


The Root of the Problem

by Genesister (papirini)



Series: Bangs and Thangs [13]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Autopsies, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Disease, Disease Mutation, Existential Crisis, Flashbacks, Gen, Genetic Engineering, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Medical Conditions, Medical Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Past Relationship(s), Terminal Illnesses, epidemic, self-amputation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 21:04:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papirini/pseuds/Genesister
Summary: It had been three months since the battle for Earth’s freedom had finally ended, but the war isn't over. The threat of Haggar is still ever-present, and there is no doubt that Earth is not out of the water yet.Still, no one expected an epidemic on such a level and ferocity to strike when and how it did. Even less people expected the bizarreness of the flowers blooming in everyone's lungs, or of the reason this epidemic began to begin with.But two things are certain to Keith. The first is that they have to cure this, and soon.The second is the creeping fear that Shiro's sudden radio silence may not have been deliberate after all.Written for the Stories in the Dark Big Bang.This work isCOMPLETE. Enjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

It had been three months since the battle for Earth’s freedom had finally ended.

Of course, the overall war wasn’t over. Eventually, everyone knew Haggar would return somehow, and everyone would have to be prepared for it. Most of those who now lived on Earth simply accepted that, even as they rebuilt. The possibility that they could once more lose their planet was still high. Still, Earth had Voltron on their side, and that, it seemed, counted for a lot.

They also had a newer, more powerful weapon at their disposal: Atlas. It was the single greatest feat of human engineering (albeit with alien aspects, but no one would fault Samuel Holt for that) piloted by the single greatest pilot to come from Earth. Anyone who still doubted the abilities of Takashi Shirogane-those who had still believed that stupid pilot error story-weren’t doubting him now. If anyone outside of Voltron deserved a vacation, it was him.

So he’d left, promising to come back when he was needed again. He’d be gone, they said, for a month at the most. To relax, to travel, to reconnect with the world he’d died and fought for. 

Two months had passed since the Admiral had gone on vacation, destination unknown. As a result, he wasn’t there when it all began.

That morning, passengers filed onto the GARR, the newly-reconstructed hybrid high-speed rail system that brought people from coast-to-coast in minutes. Like the Atlas, like Voltron, it was a marvel of human ingenuity and Altean technology, and it was believed that in five years, one could travel around the world in an hour or less on a single line. As it was, one could travel the ruins of the Pan-American Highway in forty minutes on the most recent route opened.

The train had just left New Nogales, and was on its way to the Garrison, when the coughing started.

As Keith would later be told, Colleen was busy with the juniberries when the call came in.

She’d managed to successfully re-create the plants, sure, but she also knew she had to be careful when testing out new strains. After all, for all the good that Altea and Alteans in general had done for Earth, there was no guarantee that everything that had been gifted to humanity by Princess Allura and Coran would, in fact, be beneficial on Earth. She knew nothing of how aggressively the plant would grow in certain kinds of soil, or how fast it would grow, or whether Alteans plants could exist harmoniously with other common Earth flora.

It was research she wasn’t going to get to continue, at least not that day. Her communicator rang just as she was finishing off her first round of coffee.

“Yes?” She licked her lips as she answered. “What’s…up…”

The look on Iverson’s face was not one she ever wanted to see again. It was an expression of panic mixed with worry and helplessness. For an instant, her heart clenched; she was certain Mitch would tell her once more that her husband perished somehow, and that this time, it was for real.

That wasn’t what he said, thankfully, but it was clear his tone brooked no argument.

“I need you to come into Room 310A. Now.” A pause. “Bring your plant book with you.”

Her _plant_ book? Frowning, Colleen looked over to her shelf. She had multiple plant books, as the Commander put it. She picked one that laid out botany in layman’s terms, grabbed her glasses, and walked as briskly as she could to the appointed room. No alarm lights blared, so they weren’t being invaded again, but she did notice a pair of doctors from Medical rushing past her and whispering furiously among themselves.

“Colleen.” When she finally arrived, her husband was sitting next to Mitch, so that was one less thing to worry about in her book. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

“Of course I’m here,” she gave him a smile, and a smooch. “Someone’s got to keep the Garrison clean, am I right?”

She looked over to see how everyone else in the room responded. No one laughed or even moved.

_ Hmm. Not good. _

“…So, what’s happening?” She sat down, plopping her book onto the table. “Nothing_ too _bad, I hope?”

“…We need you to look at something, Colleen.” With that, Iverson motioned to an aide, who opened his satchel. “We collected some…well, plant specimens, and we were hoping you could identify them.”

“Is that all?” Colleen frowned as several closed petri dishes were handed to her. “You didn’t need to make a big production out of needing me for something like that. You made it sound urgent, Mitch.”

“It is urgent.” Mitch nearly growled the words out. “Please, just…what we’re going to talk about doesn’t leave this room, but it may be a moot point soon anyways.”

Colleen blinked at this, before looking down at the specimens. They were all of various flower petals, some small, some large, and some with stems still attached. All of them were Earth varieties, and thus easily identifiable. Hyacinth. Rose. Carnation. Lavender.

Something was off about all of them, though. Worryingly so.

“Is…this _ blood_?” All of them were flecked with visible dark red spots of all sizes, even the rose. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” The line of Mitch’s mouth seemed to thin as he responded. “More than that, all of these came from patients in our hospital. As in, they came _ out _ of the patients.”

That brought Colleen’s head right up, her eyes widening.

“Wh-wait a minute, how exactly do you mean by…” They must have eaten them. That had to be what Mitch meant. “How many people are we talking here with flower petals in them? One?”

“Fourteen-”

A beep came from Iverson’s communicator. He brought it up, eyes widening at the text.

“…Thirty-seven and counting.” Colleen couldn’t suppress the gasp that came from her, as Sam grabbed her hand in a vice grip. “An entire train’s worth on the GARR, in fact. We’re expecting more as the morning continues.”

Colleen looked back down at the petals, staring at the red that spotted them all. All of the blood was dark, almost black, indicating the blood on the petals lacked oxygen. It was the kind of blood one would find, say, in someone who smoked. The typed description on the petri dish, however, made her own blood run cold.

Something was wrong, she realized.

_ SPUTUM SPECIMEN, FEMALE, TWELVE YEAR OLD. _

Something was _ very _ wrong.

* * *

Keith, for his part had only gotten out of the hospital a week ago. Needless to say, it was very irritating to get a call asking him to go back, right after gaining his freedom. His first order of business after that was to call Shiro, to ask if he’d gotten the same from the Garrison, or if it was just the doctors pestering him after his near-death experience. Admittedly, he had an ulterior motive as well; Shiro had left, after all, and this was the first time he could call without having to sneak it under the noses of his doctors or his mother.

Shiro’s communicator responded by going straight to the voice mail.

_ Figures, _ Keith thought with a huff. It had been doing that for several weeks now. He had half a mind to go hunting for Shiro in order to demand a reason he wasn’t responding to anyone’s calls. Because Shiro was perfectly fine, and he was just on his long-overdue vacation, and _ absolutely not dead _ this time. Still, the guy could deign to at least answer Keith once in a while when he called.

“Just get this over with,” he mumbled as he grabbed for his Garrison uniform. “And then go get tacos after.”

As he drove, he got a call on his hoverbike from Allura.

“**Keith!**” Her eyes were wide. “**Romelle and I were having a meal out of town, but now we can’t get a ride back on the road rail!**”

“You mean the railroad?” He smiled at her. “Why not? No exact change?”

“**No, they’ve cancelled ** ** _every_ ** ** train going into and out of the Garrison!**” _ Well_, then. Allura’s frown was best with worry. “**I’m waiting for Coran to pick me up. The Commander knows I might be late, but would you be willing to brief me if I don’t make it in time?**”

Keith’s hands inadvertently tightened on the clutch, and he started to go faster. The Garrison wasn’t just a hub on the GARR-it was _ the _ hub of the whole burgeoning system. It was literally in the name-Garrison Aeronautic Rail Road. The fact they shut down every train going there meant something big was going down-something big enough to bring in the Paladins of Voltron.

No wonder they called him back in.

“Allura, you can count on me.” His eyes narrowed as his bike shot past a bewildered coyote. “I’m going to be there in ten doboshes. Hopefully I won’t be the only one there!”

* * *

The good news was, despite the lack of transportation options, another Paladin still made it. The bad news, it was Lance. Well-it wasn’t _ bad _ bad news, but it was just slightly annoying.

“Hey! I beat Keith in getting here!” Lance’s grin was massive as Keith entered the room. “Score one for me, finally.”

“That’s nice.” Keith shrugged. “Can I have that tablet over there? Allura’s going to be late, so she asked me to her know what happened here.”

“Yeah, su-” Lance blanched as the meaning of the words reached his brain. “Wait, Allura called _ you_?”

“Obviously.” Keith sat down. “Why?”

“…why didn’t she call me?…”

“Because I’m the Black Paladin. Hand it over, Lance.”

Keith sighed and grabbed the tablet Lance was holding in his hands after a moment of no response. Why Lance still insisted that they had a rivalry at this point was beyond him. Maybe it gave him something to do in his free time. He’d never know. At least it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as before, back when they first started out as Paladins.

“Paladins.” Iverson walked into the room. “…Hm, I see most of you are-”

“Right here!” Without warning Pidge burst into the room, squeezing between Iverson with Hunk in tow. Hunk, Keith realized, lacked his headband. “Sorry for being late!”

“We just started, Pidge,” Keith smiled. “No worries.”

“No worries!?” Pidge practically slammed her laptop down onto the table. “No no, we’ve got lots of worries! Lots and _ lots _ of worries! This is bad, this is…”

She stopped as she looked up, Iverson’s eye fixed right on her.

“I take it you already know what this meeting is about, Ms. Holt?” The older man grumbled. “Even though I expressly asked your parents not to say anything?”

“Oh,” Pidge’s expression became one of studied innocence, eyes wide and child-like. “My parents didn’t tell me anything.”

“Is that so?” Iverson’s face darkened. “So I _ can _ assume it was you who hacked into the medical database this morning?”

Pidge’s façade collapsed at this, and she crossed her arms in a huff.

“Fine, _ fine_, it was me,” she groused. “But what would you do if you saw all that pandemonium that was happening? You’d _ want _ to make sure they were all right, wouldn’t you?”

“’They’?” Keith looked over at Hunk. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”

“Nope,” Hunk shook his head. “She just burst into my room, grabbed me and then dragged me here before I finished getting dressed!”

“Fine, I’ll explain.” Pidge ignored Iverson’s glare as she flopped down. “Ok, look, this morning my mom and dad were called into a confidential meeting-”

“Emphasis on _ confidential_, young lady.”

“Whatever, we’re here now because of it, so there’s no point in keeping what’s going on secret from us.” Pidge’s fingers flew across the screen. “So anyways, here’s the first guy’s autopsy photo.”

An image popped up on the wall, one that caused Hunk to turn green and Lance to cover his eyes with a yelp at the vivid gruesomeness.

“_GAH_!” Lance let out a horrified yelp. “PIDGE! _ WARN _ A GUY BEFORE YOU SHOW THAT!!”

Keith didn’t look away; even though it was sprung on him without warning, that wasn’t the problem. Autopsies, and otherwise cut-open dead bodies, weren’t anything he hadn’t seen before with the Blades. What _ did _ startle him was the one detail that no doubt had also shocked the coroners when they opened the poor guy up. He stared at the chest cavity as it revealed what had spilled forth from within the lungs and heart. Thorns, stems, and bushels of rose petals and flowers were spilled out, as if it were blooming straight from the man’s chest, the trunk of the bushes that had resulted tangling up towards the throat box.

“That’s…” Keith covered his mouth with his hand. “Was that actually_ inside _ of him when they…?”

“Yeah.” The picture changed to that of a pile of tangled rosebush, covered in blood, along with a myriad of petals. “That was all in him. He started coughing and convulsing on the train that came in this morning from Santiago, and then other people began to…”

“Wait a second, Pidge,” Lance shook his head. “What do you mean ‘other people’!? Are you saying you have _ more _ pictures like this!?”

“Yeah, Lance, actually I do-”

“Ok, good. _ Don’t _ show them to me.” Lance looked up at Hunk. “Buddy? Garbage pail’s outside and to the left.”

Nodding, Hunk excused himself from the room with lightning speed.

“…How many?” Keith’s eyes narrowed. “How many people have died so far?”

“Twelve.” Pidge paused at this. “All of them from different places, different backgrounds…and all different flowers coughed up. We’re thinking that-”

“‘We’re’, Holt?”

“…_They’re _ thinking the mass hysteria might have been a factor in triggering…all of this so fast. Whatever the heck ‘this’ is.”

Silence hung over the room at those words, and Keith could feel his own heartbeat thump at the unspoken ramifications.

“And…all of them came in on the rail?”

“Yeah.” Pidge’s shoulders slumped. “So far that…seems to be the common factor other than the fact they just…started growing flowers in their lungs.”

“H-hold up, though!” Lance raised his hand. “That doesn’t make any freaking sense! Flowers don’t…I mean, come on, your mom specializes in botany! Not to mention my family owns a farm, they _ know _how plants work. So even _ I _ know that plants don’t just up and _ grow in people’s lungs_! Plants don’t _ work _that way! Pollen doesn’t-”

“They didn't before, but they _apparently _ do now,” Iverson interrupted. “And if we’re going to stop this epidemic, we need to understand _ why_.”

“But none of us are scientists.” Lance glanced over at Pidge. “…I mean, uh-”

“None of us are _ doctors_, is what I think you meant to say.” Keith rubbed his chin. “How are we going to help figure this out, exactly?”

“You’re going to help take field samples for the science corps and ferry in patients for the doctors to take care of.” The Commander looked at each of them. “If what we’re thinking is correct-I hope it isn’t-other people in other places are going to start showing symptoms soon as well. And since we may have to stop all GARR services until we know for certain this isn’t contagious…”

“Voltron’s gotta do the leg work?” Pidge smirked. “Well, I already do that, so…”

At this, there was a knock on the door. Pidge hopped up to answer it.

“Oh, hey Hunk!” Lance waved from his seat as the yellow Paladin shuffled back in, still looking pale. “Welcome back. You doing better, buddy?”

“No.” Hunk presented Iverson with a folded piece of paper. “For you. It’s apparently more bad news.”

Iverson’s eye squinted as he took the paper, unfolding it. His hands began to shake as he read.

“Sir?”

“_Five hundred more cases_.” Keith’s heart stopped as the Commander crumpled the paper up and threw it at the wall. “Quiz_nak_ing-!”

With a growl, he stormed out of the room, leaving the four Paladins to look at one another.

“…Well,” Finally, Keith stood up, eyeing the crumpled piece of paper. “You heard the man. He wants us to find samples. We’ll find samples.”

He wondered, as he squared his shoulders, whether Shiro would find it a _ little _ amusing that he was acquiescing so easily to Iverson after what happened before. Then again, it probably didn’t matter at the moment. Shiro was still on vacation. Keith wasn’t.

_ I can do this, _ Keith thought as he exited the room, flanked by the other Paladins. _ I know I can. _

* * *

Keith wasn’t sure he could do this.

Maybe it was the fact he’d been at this for an entire week. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that he'd been functioning on in that past week. Or maybe it was the fact that he was hauling seven dead, bloody-mouthed, petal-strewn bodies in his Lion, along with five more living ones coughing up their own piles of blood and flowers.

Nah, _ surely _ couldn’t be that last one.

“Hang on,” he tries to reassure the survivors. “We’ll get you help, we're gonna make sure you're ok, that’s a promise!”

He didn’t know how many times he’d said that in the past week. All he knew was that by the time he landed at the Garrison, most of those still living would be dead. And those who were left?

The only good news in this whole mess was that they now had an idea of what they were facing, thanks to Allura and Coran. Keith remembered Allura’s reaction when she saw the autopsy photos, how she gasped and had to sit down.

_ “No.” She shook her head. “No, that can’t be right!” _

_ “Allura?” _

_ “Coran,” she looked over at the royal advisor, whose own face had gone ashen. “That’s…that’s _ not _ what I think it is, is it?” _

_ “I’m afraid so,” Coran’s shaking hand betrayed his own emotions as he patted her on the shoulder. “I don’t know _how_, but it is.” _

_ “It’s what?” Keith’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know what this is, then?” _

_ “I do.” Coran took a deep breath. “I never thought I would see it again, certainly not after Altea was destroyed. This is a disease of our species, our planet-Apenach’s Peril.” _

_ “Apenach’s Peril?” _

_ “Yes…” Coran exhaled slowly. “I’m afraid so.”_

_“This is terrible!” Allura brought a hand to her mouth. “Oh, Coran, I never thought I'd ever see this in my lifetime!”_

_“Er, what is that?”_

_ “A rather worrisome little thing we used to catch on Altea. I’ve never heard of it killing people, but really, most people who succumb to it wish they had died!” Coran wagged his finger. “Legend has it that King Apenach was its first victim, after an unfortunate accident involving a myrlbit tree, a bird, his beloved pet, and a particularly stormy day-” _

“Touching down now.” Keith looked over at the wane figures as they hacked. “Black, open up, the doctors need to get these guys out.”

Black didn’t need to be told twice, instantly kneeling and opening his mouth. Several EMTs, all in hazmat suits, swarmed in, grabbing everybody and separating the living and the dead. One of the living still left was starting to rasp, breath rattling in their throat. They were the first to be taken off, whisked away as they struggled to breathe air through the bee orchids growing out of their mouths.

Keith couldn’t help but shudder at the thought as he began to descend the ramp, taking a look around the launchpad. All around him were signs of just how serious the epidemic was. He could see the piles of body bags that were being laid out near the MFEs. He could smell the burning flesh as bodies that couldn’t be buried were piled and then doused with gas and set aflame. A precaution, since it turned out that this particular strain of the disease was airborne, just like the pollen it mimicked and looked like. That discovery had been utterly terrifying, especially when Coran mentioned it so casually during his explanation of just what they were facing.

He was ten feet from the entrance of the Atlas when one EMT tapped his shoulder.

“Are you all right, Paladin? Any dizziness, congestion, coughing, random flower petals in your sputum?” The EMT took out a wand and began to scan him, despite Keith fixing a glare on him. “Sorry. New regulation. The Blue Paladin made these scanners for us. Everyone has to be checked going in and out of the clean area.”

“Oh.” Right, Allura. Keith nodded. “Thanks. Is she around?”

“She landed ten minutes ago with a group from Canada.” The EMT motioned to the Atlas. “She’s back to work in the med bay on board if you want to see her.”

“Right, thanks.”

Taking a deep breath, Keith proceeded into the Atlas’ entrance corridor, where he was immediately subjected to another round of scans. Then, he was made to change out of his Paladin clothing and stow away his personal belongings in a locker before he was scanned again. Then he was forced into a hazmat suit, scanned one more time, and lastly made to take an antihistamine with a drink of the nastiest orange juice he’d ever had the displeasure of ingesting. Only then was he allowed inside the Atlas.

_ Lucky Shiro, _ Keith thought glumly as he lumbered over to the med bay. _ Extending your vacation was the best idea you ever had. Now if you would just answer your phone… _

No one had been able to get a hold of him, it turned out. But Keith knew Shiro was fine. He was _ fine _. He was just taking his sweet time on his vacation. He was probably somewhere remote where his comms didn’t work, and he was perfectly healthy and happy. No one could convince him otherwise. Not until he saw Shiro in person.

His feet padded against the floors as he heard Allura’s voice echo through the corridor.

“…seen, but I can_not _ say I approve of the Garrison’s current solution to this.”

“Well,” Colleen Holt’s weary voice responded. “You said yourself that the original cure was likely destroyed when Altea was, and our attempts of antibody cultivation from an Altean with the disease haven’t exactly been working out so far.”

“So, we keep on_ butchering _ the patients we have? That is completely nonsensical.” Keith could easily imagine Allura throwing her hands up. “And counter-productive, I might add! How the quiznak is scar tissue any better than the Peril growing in one’s system?!”

“Uh, afternoon.” Keith took the moment to walk in, causing both women, who were out of their suits, to turn and look at him. In a corner, Pidge is humming, not paying any attention, with buds no doubt in her ears. “I take it we’re not curing this stuff today?”

“_Keith_,” Allura huffed at this. “You must do something! The doctors are just being _ completely _ unreasonable. Have you heard about the ridiculous surgery that they’ve come up with to ‘save’ patients?”

“…No?” Keith blinked. “I mean, I’m sure you’ll tell me eventually, but I was just wondering how progress on a cure’s been going.”

“Not well, Keith, not well.” Collen slowly carded her hand through her hair. “We’ve been taking blood samples from Coran and analyzing them down to the tiniest molecule for the genetic code of this monster, and then comparing them to what we can get from our current patients to see if we can figure anything out about what’s going on.”

“Only from Coran?” Keith looked at Allura. “Why not you, or Romelle, or even the captive Altean we have just, you know, lying around in the brig?”

“Because we_ did _ check, but none of us had enough of the markers that one who was afflicted would have,” Allura replied with a frown. “Apenach’s Peril was considered eradicated by the time I was born. It also seems that anyone born after my father’s time would not have had natural immunity passed down to them.”

“Well, it being gone clearly isn’t the case anymore.” Keith crossed his arms. “So, Coran’s the _ only _ Altean who could have wholesale had this thing?”

“Not just ‘could have had it’, Keith,” Colleen’s lips pursed with the ghost of a bemused smile. “Coran had it when he was in his two hundreds.”

Keith’s head whipped over to look at her, eyes widened.

“Wait, _ what_!?” Keith threw a hand up. “Then why isn’t _ he _coughing up petals!?”

“Because Coran recovered,” Colleen rolled his eyes. “Though I don’t quite believe the story that he was saved by true love’s kiss. That a_ little _too fanciful for me to note on his medical history.”

“But it’s true!” Allura insisted. “Back on Altea, the effects of Apenach’s Peril were triggered by someone experiencing extreme emotional turmoil. Wouldn’t it make sense, then, that you could reverse it by satisfying the cause of the emotion? It’s why it was named what it was, the story goes that King Apenach never recovered when his pet yupper died and no one thought to help him through that!”

“Look, I can easily concede that better emotional health can have a positive effect on the body’s ability to fight infectious disease. There is data to at least back that up,” Colleen brought a hand up before Keith could open his mouth and re-enter the conversation. “And I also understand that Altea works a little bit differently than Earth does, same with Alteans and humans. However, I’m not so sure that playing Prince Charming is going to instantly cure a fatal disease.”

“It’s _not _ fatal to those of Altean descent!” After that spirited declaration, Allura turned her chin up. “It just causes them to become meristematic.”

“Merist-what?”

“They turn into trees.”

All three turned to look at Pidge, who hadn’t bothered to look up from her computer, or even take out her earphones, as she spoke.

“…_Trees_.” Keith needed a moment for his brain to reboot before responding. “So…what, they become like ents or something?”

“No, they become _ trees_!” Allura huffed indignantly. “Come on, Keith, you know what a tree is. They become rooted to the ground, their insides become wooden before their skin, they sprout branches and fruit-”

“I just-but-!” And there went Keith’s brain again. “_How _ does someone become a _ tree_? D-did _ Coran _ almost become a tree!?”

“Well, yes,” Allura tilted her head. “But he got better. His school sweetheart kissed him better, so he was no longer sick.”

“_Anyways_, the fact he _ was _ sick,” Colleen rubbed her temples. “Might allow us to hopefully build a genetic profile from all the blood we’ve taken from him, in order to compare it to what’s killing our remaining population. It’s hard to do, but if we can just clamp down the DNA of this thing, we might be able to find a way to control it, or even cure it.”

“Not going to happen.”

Pidge again. Colleen looked over towards Pidge once more.

“What?”

“I mean using Coran’s blood to cure this.” Pidge finally flipped her headphones down onto her neck. “I just finished the PCR analysis and serotype scan and…um. You’re all going to love this.”

She motioned for everyone to come to her, and so they did, with Keith peeking in over Colleen’s shoulder. There were two molecular photos, side by side, in the program. Keith couldn’t figure out any obvious difference on sight, or by the various numbers and other sundry data cascading down the screen. Then again, he wasn’t the genius that Pidge was.

“Oh my,” Colleen gasped. “Is that…?”

“Yup.” Pidge leaned back against her chair. “See, here’s the virus I gleaned out of Coran’s DNA, and here’s the virus from the very first guy who died. It’s a rhinovirus…and if what I'm looking at is right, its a new mutated strain.”

There was silence in the room for a good two minutes. Keith finally broke it.

“…So,” He held his hands up. “We have an ancient Altean virus that turned people into trees, and its mutated and now just inexplicably exploding people’s lungs with flowers?”

“More than that, look at this!” Colleen was pointing to parts of the picture as she marveled at the sight. “This one, the mutated form looks similar to the pollen of a sunflower. It’s…it’s almost like it’s mimicking the pollen! That’s just _ insidious _ right there.” 

“Victims of Apenach’s Peril were known to turn into the trees native to Altea,” Allura swallowed slowly. “They never turned into blossoming flowers.”

“At least we know why they could have turned into trees, now. Sort of.” There was a gleam of curiosity in Pidge’s eyes as she stared at the images. “The original Apenach’s Peril could only mimic the spores of trees on Altea. Now this new strain mimics the pollen of flowers on Earth. On top of that, rhinoviruses are among the most contagious to us humans in the world, and they can easily survive through the air and on multiple surfaces. Alteans probably won’t have to worry about this new strain because overall different genetics and stuff, but I’m guessing that’s not much of a comfort.”

“And now we know this can be transmitted through air and contact. We can have the Garrison issue more accurate sanitation policies to everyone!” Colleen smacked Pidge on the back. “That’s my girl! We’ve found our new disease’s path of infection and a means of slowing its spread!”

“Couldn’t have done it without my mommy.” This earned Pidge a happy little hug. “Heheh, but yeah, I am pretty awesome!”

“That’s nice. Alteans turn into trees and_ we _ just flat out die.” Keith looked over at Allura. “So, uh, please tell me the White Lion told you how to cure this or… _ any _…rhinovirus?”

“Oh, yes,” Colleen murmured. “A cure for the common cold would be nice…”

“Keith, I’ve never even _ seen _ a rhino, much less a virus shaped like one,” Allura’s voice was flat. “I learned a great deal of alchemy, but there was nothing on how to deal with this scourge, I’m afraid. I only know what Coran told me of it.”

“What, you dad never even told you?”

“Not enough to be of much help,” Allura looked away at this. “My father only talked to me about it a few scant times, and all I could manage to learn was that he and the Alchemists whom he had called upon had permanently stopped the spread using a powerful alchemical formula that was only used for that occasion. I suppose he must have thought that I wouldn’t need the knowledge since…surely the disease would die out with his generation.”

“No offense to your planet, Allura, but that’s just foolish.” Pidge swiveled her chair around. “There’s no such thing as a dead disease, just one that's been contained, or hasn’t been active for a while. Or one that’s mutated beyond recognition. Or ones, that we as a race, stupidly make resistant to all our drugs, so we can’t kill it!”

“That’s a thing?” Allura seemed surprised. “Viruses can resist death?”

“Oh Allura,” Pidge smirked. “Lots of itty bitty critters can, not just viruses. Wait until me or my mom tells you all about the fun humanity had with penicillin!”

“Later, Pidge,” Keith waved his hand. “Right now, we need to focus. What else do we need to do?”

“Well, we also need to try and identify patient zero, if we’re really going to try and figure out a full picture of this virus’s path in order to fully curtail it sans a cure.” Colleen rubbed her eyes. “The doctors are spit balling, thinking that the first victim might be the man that first showed symptoms, but there’s no way to tell right now where or when he could have gotten sick if that's the case. He’d have needed to have contact with an ill Altean in some manner, in order for any incident of zoonosis to occur, after all.”

“Zoonosis?”

“When any disease jumps from one species to another because of genetic mutation.” Pidge flicked some hair from her face. “Sorry, mom, Allura’s still not familiar with all of our disease terms.”

“…I see. There _ is _ one other factor to consider, then.” Allura’s eyes narrowed. “Haggar.”

“Haggar?” The atmosphere in the room tensed up more at the name. “You don’t think-”

“The witch _ was _ alive when Apenach’s Peril was still a threat, she’s shown herself more than capable of doing heinous things to further her ends. And the Robeast has shown how she’s had four years to continue her vile work without us stopping her.” A shadow passed in front of Allura’s eyes as she spoke. “How much effort would she truly need to revive an ancient, terrible disease, alter it for humans, and then unleash it on an unsuspecting population?”

“Yeah, that's true. Plus we know she’s cloned Shiro, so we know she’d have Shiro’s DNA, so…she _ could _use that to figure out how to…”

Pidge trailed off as they all looked at one another at this. Keith could feel his stomach drop at the unspoken implication.

“Well, I’ll look into it, see if Haggar popped in again while we weren’t looking,” Pidge was first to speak. “ Maybe even hit Shiro up whenever I manage to see him around. Heck, if it means I don’t have to watch the surgery again, I’ll stay here until _ I _turn into a freaking tree!”

Oh, right. Allura had mentioned a surgery before. Indeed, at the word Keith could see Allura wince.

“…Do I _ want _ to know?” The mood of the room, not exactly the best already, had fallen further. “Seriously, what is this surgery you guys are talking about?...”

* * *

Keith was sorry he’d asked about the surgery. No, not sorry. Angry.

The doctors had brought him in when he asked, made him wear the hazmat suit, explained what they were doing. It was a long, complex extraction process, one which didn’t just involve lung surgery. Not by a long shot.

Allura was right. The patient was cut open like a steak, and all that could be heard for a good hour and a half was the _ whrri_ng of a bone saw as they cut through every rib. Forceps were used to take out the biggest chunks of a particularly thorny and bloody bramble from the child’s lungs. Tweezers were used for smaller sized debris and berries. All of it was piled onto a never-ending parade of surgical trays as they are brought in. Each tray was filled up with handfuls of sharpened thorns and fruit and viscera, before they were whisked away, the nurses’ heads down as they quickly exited the room with their grim prize.

With that, the lung surgery was done. But for this child, it would not be the end, and it would not be enough. As Keith watched in horror, no sooner had they stitched her up on one side than they turned her over like one did a skewer on a barbecue, bringing out the bone saws once more as they began to prep and shave the head. As he demanded-practically yelled for-answers, the doctor who was watching alongside him quietly replied that not every surgery ended with the extraction of the flowers. No – they found that, in many patients, the roots of the stems would in fact root themselves with tiny tendrils and grow down from the hippocampus and amygdala-the human brain’s main centers of emotion and the primary structures of the limbic system. Even if they cleared the lungs, the roots would simply re-grow and germinate its stems once more within the chest cavity.

The virus’ progression seemed almost certainly connected to emotion, and in order to save the lives of those in the direst need, there was only one solution – burn away the parts of the hippocampus and amygdala where the disease had taken root with lasers. Those who survived the procedure woke up with emotions deadened, dulled, sometimes almost nonexistent. They were robotic at best, lobotomized at worst.

But the flowers didn’t grow back. For most families of their patients, those who had been lucky enough to get their loved ones admitted into the Garrison hospital, that was enough for them.

The doctors present didn’t even bother trying to stop Keith from storming out of the operating theater in a rage, just as the bone saw made contact with skin, and blood bloomed red from the incision.

* * *

Two weeks after the initial outbreak, two weeks after slogging around the world and being buried in hacking, coughing, and death Keith was taking a break, for once. He was in his room on the Atlas, staring at the television as it continued on about the increasingly frustrating-and terrifying-epidemic that was unfolding. The good news, if it could be called that, was that the disease seemed to be limited to the Americas, and the Garrison’s decision to shut down the GARR was looking to be the correct decision in keeping it from further spreading. The bad news was that people were still dying, still coughing up flowers, still overwhelming the Garrison hospital–every hospital, really-by the dozens. Untold amounts of people who survived the devastation of the invasion, only to find themselves submitting to that _ surgery, _ or being forced to submit to it by their family members.

And still the death toll was rising, despite everyone’s efforts. Sanitation wipes, social distancing if not outright quarantines, and face masks had helped in the harder-hit areas, but no amount of precautions seemed to stop nature itself. Somehow, the human's Peril seemed to find its way around those precautions-perhaps more people had been infected, living asymptomatic, before the restrictions kicked in. It was also always possible that the illness could find a way to spread to other parts of the world, that it might have slipped the tight cordon that had been placed around everyone, and was just waiting to bloom in an unsuspecting pair of lungs.

And Shiro still wasn’t responding to Keith’s calls.

Now Keith was getting worried. He cursed his own inactivity over the months, his injuries and his foibles, and his focus on the disease and helping those in need. He should have looked harder after he got out of the hospital, called more often before then, but Shiro…Shiro had wanted space. Needed it. It was something he hadn’t been given since before he left for Kerberos, and he said he needed it to process everything, to really let all that had happened to him in the past several years sink in. Keith had to respect his decision-the first real one he'd made in years.

Keith still, foolishly, clung to the hope that perhaps Shiro was just having such a good and relaxing time where he was. That his absence had nothing to do with what was happening on Earth at that moment. That he was perfectly fine and unwittingly isolated and disease-free this entire time. He knew it was foolish to think the other was unaffected, but after all that had happened to Shiro, Keith so desperately wanted it to be true just _ once_.

“**According to the Galaxy Garrison’s media representative, doctors in their medical division and a dozen other leading laboratories are working around the clock alongside WHO officials to cure this highly contagious and fatal disease, which was apparently known to Alteans as ‘Apenach’s Peril’. WHO also announced the standardized name for Earth's strain; it has now been dubbed severe pulmonary particulate rhinovirus, or SEPPR. However, many outside of official circles have increasingly taken to calling it by another, less clinical name–‘hanahaki’.**”

_ …Wow, seriously? _

“**Coined online in a poem by a Japanese-American teenager before she tragically succumbed to the disease in Nebraska, it is a portmanteau of the two Japanese words: ****_hana_****, meaning ‘flower’, and ** ** _haki_****, which means ‘spit’,” the reporter droned on. “Some have also mentioned that the haki part could also refer to the sound one makes while coughing up flowers-**”

_ Ok, that’s just stupid. _ Keith rolled his eyes as he turned off the TV. _ Goodbye. _

He rolled over on his bed and looked up at the grey ceiling, finding himself unable to sleep. All he could do was think, despite the fact the lack of sleep from all of brouhaha was making his head hurt something fierce. They’d made progress on the disease, they truly had. They were using antihistamines to keep people who weren’t suffering as severely alive, and the amount of people dying each day was slowly decreasing. Still, he knew it wasn’t enough. Everyone knew it wasn’t enough-nothing short of a cure would stop the need for that awful surgery. Nothing would stop the disease from imperiling the entire planet, or other planets for that matter. After all, the disease jumped species once. Nothing was going to stop it from doing it again.

Maybe Allura was right, and it was Haggar. But if it _ was _, she’d covered her tracks too well. No sign of anything amiss on the remnants of the Robeast. No disease in the Altean hostage they recovered. Nothing.

Instantly, his thoughts went to what Shiro would do if he were there at that moment of gridlock. Before, he would have compared his response to what he knew Shiro would do. Now, Keith was just wondering if Shiro was even going to come back; if he was all right, if he was hurt or worse. At the same time, he was frustrated that he couldn’t find him. Black was little help without a bond to him; the Atlas was almost worthless without Shiro at the helm.

_ Atlas… _

There was another, less personal, but no less important problem with Shiro’s absence. Having the pilot of the Atlas would allow for a much larger movement of supplies, of medicine, of everything throughout the globe. Without Shiro, the ship was silent, dormant, and outside of basic and arbitrary functions, she responded to no one. The Atlas would only listen to the one who held the piece of the comet-

_ Wait! _

Keith had been dozing, finally, but his eyes shot open at the realization. The comet shard. It was in Shiro’s prosthetic.

Instantly he was on his feet, bare feet padding down the hallway as he burst into Allura’s room wearing nothing but his pajamas. Three hard knocks on her door later, a bleary-eyed Allura emerged from her room, her eye twitching.

“Yes, Keith?” If looks could kill, Keith would be vaporized. “What is so important that you had to wake me up at 3 o’clock in the morning?”

Keith took a deep breath.

“I need you to find Shiro’s arm.” Allura’s glare didn’t lessen. “Right now. It’s important. I’m…I’m worried he might have the hanaha-the Peril. SEPPR. You know what I mean.”

It wasn’t _ un_true. For all anyone knew, Shiro was dying in a remote hotel room, covered in smelly corpse flowers-because when was Shiro ever _truly _ subtle about some things. He could have been swimming in his own coughed-up blood for weeks. Shiro could have also been in Las Vegas, nursing a month-long hangover. Or he could just have been hiding on the Atlas the whole time, waiting in the shadows to see if someone would think to look for him there. It didn’t matter-Keith would have been none the wiser no matter where he was.

“Mm…” Allura looked down at this. “Didn’t Shiro say not to interrupt him on his vacation, though? Tracking him down like this-and at this time of night-seems awfully rude.”

“I know, but Shiro’s vacation was _ supposed _ to have ended two months ago.” Keith closed his eyes. “He hasn’t responded to me at all, an _ GHHK-_”

His breath was forced from his lungs as he was unceremoniously slammed into the wall. Around them, the few people awake and present in the hallways stopped what they were doing and looked on as Keith was held up by the collar of his shirt.

“What do you _ mean _ he hasn’t responded to you!?” Allura’s eyes were wide with a mixture of horror and frustration. “I would _think_ that telling us this information when you’re the only one with his contact information _ two months ago _ would have been a priority!”

“I-!” Keith grunted. “H-he told me he might stay out longer! He had a lot on his mind, and-”

“And _ what_!?”

“…And it’s _ Shiro_, ok!?” Keith shut his eyes. “He’s been through so much, and when I got out of the hospital, and he was getting ready, he seemed so at _ peace _ for the first time in…in forever! He was going to be _ fine _ ! I wasn’t going to worry about it! I _ promised _ I wouldn’t worry or try to bother him because he _promised_ he’d come back!”

Allura stared at him, eyes wide, before slowly letting him back down at the ground. Keith looked away, feeling his face flush with…embarrassment? Anger? He didn’t know. He knew he screwed up in any case.

“…You still should have said something sooner, Keith,” her tone was softer. “If he’s really in trouble, if he was supposed to come home earlier…”

“I know.” Keith looked down. “Allura, I know, but…”

“But you need to trust us more with Shiro’s well-being.” Allura brought a hand to his shoulder, squeezing it. “We’re his friends, too.”

“Friends…” Keith could feel the blush in his cheeks deepen. “Yeah, no, I get it. I’m sorry.”

“Good. Just…remember that for next time, all right?” Allura gave one last squeeze before turning. “Give me ten doboshes to get my suit on, I’ll meet you at the Blue Lion.”

“Right…” Keith cocked an eye. “What about the others?”

“What about them?” A smile flashed on Allura’s face as she turned back to look at him one last time. “Ten doboshes, Keith, or I’ll leave without you in retaliation for not telling anyone about Shiro.”

Keith couldn’t help but smile back, and he nodded, feeling his guilt and worry ebb just a little. Ten doboshes, then. He went to get his Paladin suit ready.

He also ignored the sudden tickling sensation that greeted his throat as he swallowed. It was nothing. It could wait.

* * *

The subtler colors of dawn had just begun to lighten the twilight sky as the Blue Lion flew over the desert and mountains, and towards the coast. Blue was flying automatically through the sky, while Allura sat at the cockpit, eyes closed and hands on the throttle. Her cheek marks were gently glowing beneath her eyes, and her breathing was slow and even.

Keith knew that Allura was using her power to feel out the comet piece in Shiro’s arm. Keith also knew that making noises while Allura was concentrating was a bad idea. So naturally, Keith was not pleased when, out of nowhere, he began to cough, the sensation of his throat akin to swallowing sandpaper.

He quickly tried to cover his mouth with his arm to muffle the sound. It didn’t work.

“_Keith._” Instantly, Allura’s head was up and whipping backwards to stare at him. Her eyes still had a faint glow within the blue of her pupils. “Why are you _ coughing_?”

“I-” Keith coughed, then quickly cleared his throat while thumping his chest. “I’m fine, Allura.”

“Oh, _ are _ you? Or did your excitement of finding Shiro trigger it?” Allura looked ready to jump up and toss him into the cargo hold. “I swear to Groggery’s children, if you managed to catch it after all this time-”

“I’m fin_HNNK_-” _ Cough. _ “Seriously, I’m not even coughing anything up and I can breathe_EEGHK_-” _ Wheeze. _“Perfectly!”

“I’m not taking any chances!” Allura’s finger wagged ferociously at Keith’s nose. “If you start bringing up petals from your mouth, I’m making you walk back to the-”

Her eyes suddenly flashed a bright cyan, and she gasped as the hand that had been chastising him went to her mouth.

“Shiro’s arm.” Instantly Blue began to descend on her own. “I can sense the stone. It’s nearby!”

Nearby. Keith’s heart soared. Maybe there was a chance, then, that they would surprise Shiro where he was, in whatever he was doing. Maybe he had just lost track of time. Maybe he heard about what was happening and smartly stayed isolated.

The place they were heading towards certainly looked quite isolated, with large, jutting rocks and cliffs coming out of the sand, out of the water, and from golden cliffs that rose above the barren beach. Indeed, all that was there in terms of flora upon first look were some dried sheaths of seaweed and reeds around a small saltmarsh clinging to the edge of the cliffs. Despite his excellent night vision, Keith didn’t even see the shrubbery until the Blue Lion had gotten closer, then landed on the beach.

Allura didn’t even bother to wait for the ramp to open fully before she was barreling down onto the beach, kicking sand behind her as she ran.

“Over here-!” Keith could hear her shout, then gasp, as he jogged down the ramp. “Oh…oh dear…!”

That wasn’t a good sign. Suddenly, thoughts of Shiro’s potentially bloodied, flower-clogged corpse popped up in his mind, and Keith let out his own gasp, only to end up descending into a fit of coughing as he stumbled to Allura’s side. Clearly deep breaths were not his friend right now, and he didn’t look back up until he was done.

He really, _ really _ hoped it wasn’t hanaha-SEPPR. Or that if it was he didn’t abruptly die on Allura. He would take his chances with the flowers before getting Allura angry at him.

“I…” Allura’s tone at the sight before them was nothing short of dumbfounded, once Keith finally focused. “I don’t understand.”

Keith looked up to see what Allura was seeing. There was no corpse. No blood, no flower petals, no Shiro. No one and nothing, except a half-buried Altean prosthetic, blue gem barely glinting among the grains of sand.

“That’s his arm.” Keith was being Captain Obvious and he didn’t care. “That’s Shiro’s arm.”

“…That it is.” Allura frowned as she slowly stepped forward. “And I don’t think it was brought here recently, either.”

As if to prove her point, she turned the arm downwards, forearm first, and flipped a hatch. A pile of sand cascaded down back onto the beach, and Keith felt himself pale.

“I…you know he wouldn’t just leave it here.” _ He’s fine. He needs to be fine. _ Keith could feel his throat tighten. “That’s not like Shiro.”

“Nor would he leave his communicator.” The sensation in his throat sharpened like a knife as Allura opened up the robotic fingers, revealing Shiro’s device. It dropped back to the ground with a plop, it’s screen black, the battery clearly dead. “It’s as if he vanished. But surely, if someone had come to Earth…”

_ Haggar. _

“No. We would have known. We _ had _ to have known if that was the case, Allura.”

Keith wasn’t going to panic. He refused to panic. There had to be a reason for Shiro to not be here. Something benign, something that could explain why Shiro would have left those things behind. Even while Allura found small remnants and shreds of clothing that, when put together, could only have been a pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt that were Shiro’s size.

It was like an animal had ripped the clothing up, and worse, the clothing had speckles and lines of a dark material on them. Keith knew what that material was-it was blood. Shiro’s blood.

_ No. _

His lungs seized up, and Keith found himself gasping for air as his throat closed up entirely, and his nostrils refused to work while the world around him blurred and spun. The salt in the air threatened to rush into what was left of his breath and drown him, just as much as any ocean water could. Every terrible possibility mushroomed in his mind, as his thoughts threatened to pull him under. Shiro drowned, or it was the flowers, or wild animals, or flowers, or an unexpected relapse, or the Galra, _ Haggar_, the _ flowers, hanahaki_. All of them lead to the same conclusion: death.

Not again, not again, not agai-

“Keith!”

Keith’s eyes rolled back down from where they had been, finding themselves focusing on Allura’s face. Her helmet was on, and the visor was down. A sensible choice if he really was sick, even if she was immune to the human version of hanahak-_SEPPR, it was SEPPR_. Then again, he was also half-Galra, so who knew what that would do to the disease.

“Keith, calm down. You must focus.” Allura closed her eyes. “Take a few minutes. I will keep looking for evidence as to what happened to Shiro.”

Keith wanted to argue, wanted to scream that no, being calm was _ not _ possible. Something bad _ had _ happened to Shiro and they had to figure it out now. Then he took a breath, felt a tickle in his throat and it threatened to trigger another round of wheezing. He knew better. He forced himself not to argue, deciding instead to nod and sulk as he leaned against the hard wood that seemed to encompass his back.

Wait. Wood?

What _ was _ he sitting against?

“Stay here.” Allura backed away, her expression determined. “Take your time. I’ll be back when I find something else.”

Keith didn’t even respond to her. Not out of rudeness, of course-he would have to apologize later. Instead, he numbly looked upwards, then behind him, to confirm to himself that he was, indeed, sitting against a tree trunk. He blinked at the sight, as he took in the gnarled branches with green fronds, and the bunches of green fruit that glistened with a reddish sap in the rising sun.

_ Whatever, _ he thought as he leaned against the trunk, closing his eyes. _ It doesn’t matter. _

A gentle wind began to blow through the branches above as Keith began to think of everything he had done wrong up until that very moment. He should have looked for Shiro the tick that Shiro stopped responding to messages. Never mind that he’d still been injured from the Robeast attack, or that he had been busy with the outbreak that had happened afterwards. Never mind that before he left, Shiro had told him not to worry; that Keith’s health was important and that he should rest and recover like the doctors ordered.

But Keith was an idiot. He should have done more than just cling to hope. He should have called more often, gotten daily checkups, should have insisted on coming with him. Something. Anything.

_ Shiro, I’m so, so sorry- _

He didn’t even realize that tears had started to stream down his face until one of the fruits fell right into his lap.

“Gah-!”

Keith nearly jumped out of his skin at the impact, spreading his legs apart to allow the fruit to fall harmlessly onto the ground. He sniffled, then wiped his face with his forearm as he realized they were wet.

_ Ugh… _

After rubbing his cheeks, Keith stared upwards with annoyance at the verdant menace that had interrupted his wallowing. How dare it, as if it had fallen on purpose. After another spate of coughing, he kicked it away with his heel, watching it fly in a small arc before landing several yards away with a plop in the sand. Yeah, he was being childish, but it didn’t matter. He’d messed up and he knew it.

Not even ten seconds went by before another fruit plopped down onto his lap.

_ Huh? _

Keith picked this one up, feeling his annoyance pick up just a tick, before looking up at the branch above him. The tree overall was gnarled and bright brown, and the branches thick with life. The fronds were green, and the fruits were fat and ripe. The branches gently swayed in the ocean breeze, though it wasn’t strong enough to cause anything to fall.

With a huff (and another cough) he tossed the fruit aside and looked back up just as another fruit plunged down towards his face.

“Hey-!” Keith was glad he had fast reflexes, or else the fruit would have smacked him right on the forehead. He swiped the fruit out of the air with a growl. “What the quiznak-_haghk_!?”

The branch above him began to sway. He was tempted, in his state of emotional duress, to just throw the fruit right back up at the tree. Which is exactly what Keith did, causing the fruit to bounce off the branch and fly behind it into a small sand dune.

He didn’t have time to react when the tree unexpectedly rumbled, resulting in a half-panicle’s worth of fruit falling right on top of him two seconds later. It was only as he flailed, half-buried among the strange green fruit, that he suddenly felt _ it. _

“_HFGYEIEHF_-!?”

An energy that felt all too familiar to him.

_ Shiro…? _

“Keith!”

Keith’s head popped out of the pile of green, eyes wide, as Allura ran back to him.

“What in the world are you doing?” She began to sweep away the fruits from Keith. “I leave you alone for ten doboshes and this happens. I’m beginning to question the Black Lion’s wisdom-”

“Allura…” Keith let out a cough. “Wait. Just now I felt something.”

“Felt something?”

“Shiro.” Keith swallowed. “I felt _ Shiro _ was here. I swear I-”

_ Cough. _

“-I _ swear _ I did.” He gasped. “Allura, can’t you feel it? It’s around this tree.”

“This tree?”

Allura’s eyes narrowed, before they closed entirely. She quietly put up a hand to the trunk of the tree, her marks glowing. Keith could feel a surge of energy – mostly Allura’s, but also of the unknown source that felt so like Shiro’s-as she examined the tree.

But there was a difference, Keith realized, as his mind took in the energy signature. This energy felt weak, quiet. _ Sick_. Keith’s fear quadrupled at the realization.

“…I…” Allura’s hand then released from the trunk, and Keith felt the energies all subside. “This doesn’t seem right. I can feel Shiro’s presence, but I can also feel an Altean energy in this tree.”

“Altean?” Keith shook his head. “I only feel Shiro’s energy. It’s faint, but it’s here. So, he _ had _ to have been alive, right?”

“Yes, but…I wonder…” Allura bent down, snatching up two of the fallen fruits. “This is where Shiro was, I’m certain of that. And this tree…this tree could tell us what happened while he was here, and why he left his arm here.” 

“The fruit.” Keith took the fruit offered to him, before looking up at the tree. “Seriously? Is that why you dropped these on me?”

Much to Keith’s surprise, the branch seemed to shake, just so slightly. Or maybe it was the fact that Keith was about to cough again. He wasn’t sure which.

“Well, there’s no harm in taking a bite and seeing what happens.” Allura brought the fruit up to her mouth, her visor briefly dissipating. “Well? I’ll do it if you do it.”

“…Heh.” Keith looked down at his fruit. It was oval-shaped and mostly green, with dapples of silver near the stem gleaming as the rays of the sun hit it. “Ok, count of three. One, two…”

They both lifted their fruits up, and proceeded to bite into it with a crisp, clean chomp. The fruit was surprisingly sweet, Keith realized; there was no hint of rot in it, and he was almost tempted to scarf down the rest of the pome right then.

_ “Keith?” _

His eyes widened as he was plunged into a cascade of flowers, gasping for air, his lungs filling with them-

_ “Keith.” _

_ He quickly turned around; to his confusion, he was no longer on the beach, but he was instead back at the Garrison, looking over at a figure sitting up in a hospital bed. _

_ No-he was laying in bed, his head still bandaged, his eyes still glassy. Keith. _

_ He was looking at himself. _

_ “You’re leaving?” Keith-he?- looked up at him, looking hurt. Keith tried to hide it, but he knew that he was hurting. Wait. No, not he, but- “Are you sure about this?” _

_ “I am.” A metal hand came down to squeeze one of Keith’s. Oh. These memories, then, belonged to- “I…I need time. I need a few weeks to plant my feet back on Earth before we go out to battle again. I need to feel…” _

_ He paused, trying to find the right word. _

_ “…connected again.” He hoped Keith understood. Keith of all people would understand; he was the only one who had seen him that way, on the astral plane, when he had- “I just need to think about myself for a little bit.” _

_ “You say that like looking after yourself is a bad thing.” Keith remembered how he reacted, how he had scoffed at the idea that Shiro taking care of himself for the first time in years. “Look, Shiro…just keep in touch, ok?” _

I’m so sorry.

_ The way Keith had held Shiro’s metal hand… _

Keith, I-there’s so much-

_ After he left the room, he stared down at his hand. The sensation of touch felt almost like he had his natural right arm back. He almost felt- _

Too much-

_ He screamed as he felt the roots clench around his lungs- _

Keith’s eyes widened, and the next thing he knew, he had coughed up the mouthful of fruit he’d chewed. It into the sand with a saliva-covered splat as he gasped for air. Next to him, he could hear Allura hacking up the fruit as well.

“-Uck!” Still, no petals came up. For that, Keith was glad. “Wh-Shiro was-!”

“Keith…”

Allura pounded her fist to her chest before she spoke again. As she gasped for composure, Keith could feel his stomach start to tighten up as what just happened began to settle into his mind.

Shiro’s memories. Next to his hand was the fruit he bit into. Those were Shiro’s memories.

_I know they were._

Why, and how, would this tree’s fruit-

He leaned his head back against the tree, the knot in his stomach tightening as he pulled the pieces together. Or tried to, He didn’t want to believe where the pieces were leading him to. After all, Shiro’s arm and clothing were here. There was a tree that was emanating Shiro’s energy. The tree had fruit that was either giving him hallucinations, or were replaying Shiro’s memories. Or_ both_.

Everything was leading to a single, terrible conclusion.

“…Shiro…”

The largest branch above him began to shake. This time, there was no wind to explain how it was moving.

“Shiro?”

The shaking of the branch seemed to intensify in response to his questions. Keith’s eyes widened.

“_Shiro._”

The branch above him seemed to swing up, then down, like someone furiously nodding. Any further and the branch looked ready to snap in two. It was responding to him. The _ tree _ was-

“Keith, _ stop _ annoying the _ WATCH OUT_!”

The increasing violence of the tree’s unnatural movement caused the rest of the fruit on the panicles above to break loose, and rain down on top of the two. One of the falling fruits hit Keith squarely in the forehead, with enough force that everything went black right afterwards.


	2. Chapter 2

Frost covered his body as he started to come to. As his eyes opened, he heard a beep, followed by the cryo-pod’s cover dissipating. Beyond that, the sun was high up in the air, though the cloud cover ensured Keith wouldn’t be blinded by it as he came to.

“…ure?”

“I’m quite certain.” Allura’s voice responded with worry and uncertainty. “Right now, there is no other explanation I can think of. Shiro never left this area, and so-.”

“Oh, hey, Keith’s coming to.” A hand gently slapped his cheek. “Up and at ‘em, Fearless Leader! Wakey wakey!”

“Stop slapping me,” Keith mumbled. “Or I’ll cough on you.”

Lance’s hand quickly retreated from Keith’s face.

“Idiot.” Pidge’s face hover to the side as Keith slowly groaned and sat up in the pod. “You should have let all of us come with you, you know! Especially when it involves finding Shiro!”

“I know, I know,” Keith mumbled. “I should have.”

“He did bring Allura,” Hunk offered from behind. “That counts as a step in the right direction!”

“Nevertheless, it’s not like I was asleep,” Pidge huffed. “And I could have told them the tree was weird right off the bat, too.”

“Really?” Lance blinked. “How so?”

“Because it’s a Joshua tree.” Pidge motioned towards the topiary in question. “Joshua trees don’t grow on beaches! Or…literally anywhere but in the freaking Mojave Desert!”

“…Ooooooh.”

Keith, for his part, looked over at the tree. Its fruit was all off in piles in the sand, replaced by bunches of white petaled flowers that swayed gently. However, Keith knew better now; there was no wind blowing. At least he _hoped _he knew better, and it wasn’t just him hallucinating because of the hit to his head.

With a groan, he turned to get up from the pod, feeling Hunk’s arms support his upper body as he did so. After a few unsteady steps, he was upright and able to walk on his own.

“Thanks, man.” Keith turned to look at the Yellow Paladin. “I owe you guys one.”

“No problem, Keith. It’s what friends do.” Hunk gave him a reassuring smile. “Just don’t forget to let us know when you go somewhere next time, ok?”

“Yeah. I won’t.”

“_ Or _ Shiro?”

“…Or Shiro.” Keith closed his eyes. “I know, I screwed up. I should have said something earlier, but I didn’t-it’s complicated.”

“No, that’s fair.” Hunk shrugged. “Still, with what’s been happening, it’s best not to be too careful, right?”

Keith could feel the tickle returning to his throat, though it was much less pronounced than before. Perhaps the hanahaki (he’s apparently given up on calling it the proper term, hasn’t he?) had been helped by the cryo-pod, if he had it. On the other hand, everyone else was infected now, especially since everyone had been around him to cart him into the pod without their helmets on.

He gave a resigned nod, then turned back to face the tree.

“You guys really think this tree has something to do with Shiro?”

“…Yeah.” Keith took a deep breath. “Actually, and…if Allura hasn’t gotten to it yet, I know this is going to sound insane-”

“_BY GROGGERY’S BEARD! _”

Before Keith even had a chance to finish his sentence, an orange tornado dashed past them, throwing Hunk and Keith–and everyone else–to the sand. Keith found himself coughing again, this time to expel all the sand he ended up inhaling by accident. Next to him, Hunk was staring, open-mouthed, as the one responsible began climbing up and down the tree with increased frenzy and excitement.

“Oh…OH!” Once he landed, Coran’s eyes began to bug out. “I suspected as much, but I never _ really _ thought I’d live to see another one…!”

“Coran?” Lance slinked over to the excitable man. “You ok?”

“Stay back, Lance!” An open palm instantly jammed into Lance’s nose. “You don’t want to surprise them too much. They might take your approach as a sign of human aggression!”

“…We _are _talking about the tree, right?” Lance’s voice was muffled under Coran’s hand. “Pretty sure plants don’t count as sentient.”

“This one…is.” Keith swallowed as Lance turned to give him a smug look that only said ‘seriously you are buying into what Coran is saying right now’. “I…actually think this tree is Shiro.”

Everyone was silent at this declaration. After what felt like an eternity of everyone save Allura looking at him like he’d turned purple, Keith felt Hunk’s beefy hand on his forehead.

Meanwhile, Keith could see the tree’s branches tremble, just slightly.

“Not feverish,” Hunk murmured. “Keith, why would you-”

“I swear I’m not going insane,” Keith insisted. “This tree is…eating it’s fruit gives you his memories, and it keeps responding to me whenever I say Shiro’s name!”

The branches swayed slightly, from left to right, and Keith’s newest pronouncement of the name.

“I’m afraid Keith speaks truthfully,” Allura sighs. “It is very likely this is why Shiro never returned. He has, somehow, become meristematic.”

“Oh, really?” Lance crossed his arms, looking the tree up and down. “Ok. Shiro.”

The tree branches stopped moving.

“Shiro. Shiro Shiro Shiro.” Lance turned back to Keith, shaking his head, not noticing the rumbling beneath them, or that the outer fronds began to shake almost indignantly. “Seriously, Keith, nothing is happening. This is so ridiculous! I can do this all day, honestly. Shiro, Shiro Shiro Shiro.”

“…Uh, Lance?”

“Hey, Shiro, Keith thinks you turned into a tree!”

“Lance-”

“And it’s an _ugly _ tree, too. I mean, come on Shiro, even I think you’re a classically handsome dude. Why didn’t you turn into a cherry tree, or a Douglas fir, or-”

“That tree is about to drop a raccoon on your face, Lance.”

“Hm? Oh hey racoAAA**_AAAAUGH_**-”

Lance barely had time to react before a rather large, rather shocked raccoon was unceremoniously tossed right onto his head. The raccoon, for its part, responded by scratching and biting while letting out screeches that were as high-pitched as Lance’s undignified shrieking.

“GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!!” Even as he wrestled with it on the ground. The raccoon let out one final growl before it scampered off, even as Keith bit his finger to prevent himself from laughing at Lance’s suffering, the panicles above trembled, as if daring Lance to retort what just happened. “OH GOD I’M SORRY I TAKE BACK EVERYTHING I SAID!! Owwiiiie, my face…”

“You ok, Lance?” Hunk was right there to help Lance up. “Uh, you’re going to have to go into the cryo-pod now, you know.”

“So glad I brought it with me,” Pidge nodded. “Come on, Lance, let’s flush any possible chance you just contracted rabies out of you.”

“Why is the tree so vengeful…!?” There were tears in Lance’s eyes. “Shiro, why…!?”

“I did warn you, my boy.” Coran gave Lance a reassuring pat on his back. “Those in the end stages of Apenach’s Peril can be a _bit _ hard to reason with.”

“So…this is the Peril.” Allura looked over at the advisor as the whimpering Lance was set into the cryo-pod, its lid closing. “And...this is truly Shiro. But if that is the case, _ how _ can this _ be _?”

“What do you mean, Allura?” Coran pulled his mustache. “I believe it’s quite self-explanatory, he had the Peril, he had emotional turmoil, and then-”

“No, Coran, I understand how the Peril works in Alteans,” Allura shook her head. “But Shiro is human, so he _ should _ have incubated the mutant human strain, not our strain. He should have…well…”

Allura didn’t need to finish. The mere thought of Shiro under the knife, his chest full of flowers, his eyes staring listlessly at the ceiling, was enough for Keith to fill in the blanks.

“Hmm, yes…” Coran rubbed his chin. “Well, there’s only one way to find out what is going on. And that involves fluid tests.”

There was a quiet tremble that rippled through the tree’s branches.

“We shall need a rather large needle for this procedure-”

The branches trembled more fervently as Keith watched.

“We will need to penetrate quite deeply-”

The ground began to rumble.

“Wait, Coran.” Keith waved his hand to get Coran’s attention. “Is that really necessary? I think we’re freaking out Shiro.”

“I’m afraid so, Number Four,” Coran sighed. “We need to get a sample of this tree’s sap in order to understand how Shiro was affected-if this_ is _ Shiro, of course!”

Keith swallowed at this. He looked over at the tree, then at Coran, then back at the tree.

“You…you won’t hurt him, will you?”

“Of course not!” With that, and to Keith’s horror, Coran whipped out a giant needle. How in the _world _did Coran fit that thing behind his back and how did Keith not notice!? The mere sight of it caused Keith’s blood pressure to skyrocket. “This will only take a few ticks.”

“Coran, _wait_-”

Keith didn’t get the chance to at least prepare the tree for what was about to happen. Without any warning or ceremony, Coran thrust the needle right into the side of the tree trunk.

The result was instantaneous. The gentle rumble beneath became an abrupt, overwhelming roar that popped Keith’s ears. He was thrown to the ground as roots shot up out of the sand, arched like a cat defending itself from a predator. To Keith’s horror, roots began to shoot out of the sheer cliffs all around them in bursts of rock. The leaves and panicles on the branches of the main tree were ripped apart as sharp thorns began to protrude like swords out of the wood, cascading downwards towards Coran’s position.

“**_CORAN!_ **”

The next thing Keith knew, he was flying forward, tackling Coran to the ground, snapping the needle out of the tree with the momentum. They both missed being impaled by a large thorn by mere inches, and crashed into the sand with a crack. Beneath him, Coran yelped.

“Oh my-!” The large syringe in his hand held a dark, viscous red fluid. “I appear to have upset Shiro…”

The roar died down, and Keith could see the thorns begin to recede, though they didn’t subside entirely. On the trunk was a large, jagged line where the needle had been dragged before breaking; dark red sap dribbled from the etching, ending where the needle was embedded.

“Coran,” Keith grit his teeth, keeping his breathing even as he pulled Coran up to a sitting position. “Shiro is _scared _of needles! After what the Galra did-”

“I…” Coran swallowed. “Yes, I can see that.”

Slowly, Coran stood up, handing the partially-filled needle to Keith. After adjusting his uniform, he strolled forth as Keith watched, slowly lifting his hand to give the tree a gentle pat. The thorns, however, didn’t recede.

“I apologize, Number One,” Coran spoke, quiet and soothing. “In my excitement and haste of seeing you, I got carried away. But I’m afraid I now must, at least, try and dislodge what’s currently in your trunk. Would you allow me to at least take that out? This time, I shall make sure to warn you properly.” 

There was another rumble from the ground as Coran waited, before the tree’s branches shook, up and down. It was assent, or at least Keith hoped it was; the thorns had still not receded entirely.

“Hey, Keith.” Suddenly, Keith felt hands grab the syringe from him. “Gimme.”

With that, Pidge skittered off, while Coran held the broken needle with a firm grip.

“On the count of three…!”

* * *

The thorns were still jutting out of the tree, several moments later, when a cross-legged Pidge slid the microscope slide into the slot next to her monitor. The screen lit up, revealing the reddish, sap-like substance that was on the slide in finer detail. It wasn’t a uniform red, either-there were white spots littering the sap, much like someone would see on a poisonous mushroom cap. Everyone watched as Pidge pressed a button, causing the slide to be magnified thousands of times its original side.

Behind Coran, Keith began to cough again.

“Swear to quiznak, Keith,” Pidge’s voice piped up in irritation. “If you’re sick with SEPPR you'd better cover your mouth, or I’ll kill you.”

“I’m fine,” Keith managed, before coughing again. “Just a cough.”

“Yeah, but that’s what _everyone _says when they first have it!” Instantly a mask was thrust into Keith’s hands by Hunk, who looked back at him with pleading eyes. “Please put it on. Just in case?”

Keith sighed, putting it on his face. He felt mostly fine. Surely if he had it, the cryo-pod would have picked up on it, right?

_ But maybe it didn’t, though, _ his mind teased him with the cruelest ideas _ . Maybe you are dying, after all. You won’t turn into a tree like Shiro, either, when you go. Maybe you’ll just collapse in a pile of flowers. Maybe they’ll cut your head open and- _

“Woah!” A beeping sound from Pidge’s monitor interrupted Keith’s thoughts. “Look at this!”

“What?” Everyone except for Keith had gathered around and hovered over the monitor. “Wait, isn’t that-”

“Yeah! It’s…his sample has the Altean strain_ and _ the strain we’re dealing with here on Earth.” Pidge’s tone was laced with horror and awe, while Allura let out an audible gasp. “I really don’t…this doesn’t make sense. Shiro’s not Altean and with what we get, he should be dead...again. No offense, Keith.”

“None taken, I think.”

“Are you certain it’s not just a glitch of your machinery, Pidge?” Coran started to shake the monitor, only to have Pidge yanked it away from him. “Come now, there is clearly a mistake in your program. Number One having the Peril is apparently inexplicable enough, he cannot have_ both_!”

“Dude, no! It’s not!” Pidge’s fingers flew frantically over the interface. “There’s no way this is a mistake on my computer! I’m running it again, and-_see _ , this says Shiro has Apenach’s Peril _and _our version!”

“But Shiro is human, as Allura has-”

“I_ know _that, but-!”

As Coran and Pidge began to argue and pull on the monitor in different directions, Keith looked over at the monitor, then back at the tree, then back to the monitor. His own thoughts were confused, as well; Shiro turning into a tree made no sense. Having the original Apenach’s Peril-even though they knew this tree had to be Shiro-still made no sense. Shiro wasn’t Altean and never had been. Shiro was from Earth-a human.

At least-so far as they knew. But this tree-this _Shiro _-was also not the same Shiro that sprung Keith from juvenile detention all those years ago. Not entirely. He quietly clenched his fists.

“Haggar.”

Everyone turned to look at Keith.

“Keith?” Pidge’s voice was first. “You…think this is Haggar’s doing?”

“Haggar cloned him.” Keith could feel the cogs of logic slowly revolve in his head. “She cured him of his illness. To do that she would have had to have altered his DNA. Right?”

“You don’t think…!” A hand went to Allura’s mouth, before she turned to Coran. “Would it be possible that Honerva used Altean DNA to compensate for Shiro’s human genetics?!”

“…Oh. Of course. I don’t see why it would be_ im_possible,” Coran rubbed his nose. “Someone of her longevity, cunning and knowledge would have methods of furthering her research we couldn’t begin to comprehend.” 

“But Shiro’s genes looked _fine _when I analyzed them!” Pidge protested. “Seriously, we went over them when we got back to the Garrison with a fine-toothed comb. The chromosomes and genotypes matched that of a normal, healthy human!”

“But that doesn’t mean Altean genotypes or phenotypes _didn’t _ replace the faulty code in Shiro’s DNA. We wouldn’t necessarily notice the difference if we weren’t specifically looking for similar phenotypes that Alteans might share with humans.” This time, it was Hunk who spoke. “I mean, think about it? When we rescued him, Shiro’s clone was pretty buff for someone who hadn’t eaten any food or drink for close to a whole movement. Especially with the water, he should have been way closer to death or dead by then, but he barely needed the pods!”

There was silence at this.

“And if Shiro developed Apenach’s Peril…” Keith took a breath. “Obviously there’s no way to know whose DNA Honerva used to alter Shiro’s. Could have been hers, could have been another ancient Altean’s that she managed to preserve. But whoever it was, that person had Apenach’s Peril, and it got…well, passed down to Shiro.”

“And that's why that SEPPR is a new strain that only infects humans…because it mutated from the disease that was already present in the fun mish mash that is now Shiro’s DNA. Ok, fine, fair enough, that does make sense. Unfortunately.” Pidge sighed as she turned her monitor off. “But that doesn’t explain how the stuff spread so far from here. The first cases came from Santiago, and we are very obviously not anywhere near Chile. Or South America, for that matter.”

“So we need to find the, um…the original…” Hunk snapped his fingers. “Shoot, what’s the word-the vector!”

“The what?”

“The vector,” Pidge turned to Allura. “A vector is basically something that can transmit a disease into a living thing. We know that SEPPR is airborne, but I doubt even it could have traveled thousands of miles south on the air alone. It had to have escaped from Shiro in another way.”

“The flowers? Or maybe the pollen from Shiro’s flowers?” Hunk scratched the back of his neck. “Pollen can travel long distances.”

“Wouldn’t we have heard of these trees appearing elsewhere?” Allura tilted her head. “Pidge said these are rare trees, are they not? And that they only grow in specific environments?”

“Power hasn’t been restored everywhere,” Coran pulled at his mustache. “And given how easy Number One here has rooted himself, it is quite possible his, erm, ‘children’ trees could survive in similar unusual conditions. Apenach’s Peril is a mite more durable than you give it credit for!”

“I mean, I guess, but-”

“It doesn’t matter, guys. We can figure it out.” Keith turned to look back at Shiro, and the roots that kept sticking out of the cliffs. “I know we can. We have to.”

With that, he walked over to the tree once more, and brought a hand onto the trunk. He could feel the warmth that emanated beneath the wood; Slowly he leaned his forehead against the trunk.

“For Shiro’s sake…for everyone’s sake.”

The trunk seemed to creak beneath the spots where he made contact, and Keith closed his eyes. He felt a bit silly for what he was about to do next, but perhaps it would help. Perhaps it would cure Shiro right then and there.

“…I love you,” he murmured, loud enough for his voice to carry up to the branches above, yet low enough that his voice wouldn’t carry to the others as they kept talking. “You know that, don’t you, Shiro? Just like I told you when we fought…”

He could feel the ground rumble gently beneath him.

“…and I’ll keep telling you, over and over. As many times as it takes. Shiro…let me help you!”

Roots once more began to lift out of the ground, and from the cliffs, sending rocks, sand, and debris everywhere. This time, however, they began to encircle around Keith, pinning him to the tree. Like spider legs they began to clamp on his arms and legs, preventing him from leaving. Then, they began to tighten all around him, more layers bursting forth from the earth to further entrap him.

“_KEITH! _”

“Coran, what is the tree-what is Shiro doing!?”

“Ah, I think he may be attempting more direct communication in order to reveal his plight!” Keith could just hear everyone, including Coran, speaking over the loud creaking and groaning of wood and rock. “Or Number One’s…absorbing him for nutrients. That’s also possible, some victims of the Peril were known to be particularly hungry for flesh...”

“Then we have to stop-oh!” Allura’s gasp became muffled. As Keith turned to look through the cracks between the roots trapping him, he could see sharpened branches and roots aiming at everyone, forcing them back. “No! Shiro…we’re your friends…you know that, don’t you? Please don’t do this…!”

_ He does, _Keith thought as the roots closed in, blocking the light and sounds out. _I know he does. But there’s something he wants to tell me. It’s something I have to help him with. _

He felt the pressure of the branches start to crush his bones. Before they broke, however, Keith felt himself start to slide through the trunk of the tree, through a thick, almost jelly-like substance. It filled his mouth, his ears, his eyes, and it all stung and burned like he was being attacked by wasps. For a moment, he wondered if Shiro really did intend to absorb him.

_ Shiro…let me help you! _

Then, with his own words echoed back to him, he was falling, the wind whistling through his ears as he found himself in a void. It almost reminded him of the astral plane, but there was no ground, no air, nothing he could settle himself down on.

** _I don’t know if you can._ **

Keith’s eyes widened at this.

“Shiro!” Somehow, despite being filled with the jelly-or maybe it was sap?-Keith could talk. “Please, let me…!”

He fell, and fell-and then landed hard on his back, with a gasp, staring up at a dark purple ceiling. It was cold, quiet, with the smell of burnt skin filling the air. Keith’s nose twitched at the stench, before he looked over to his right.

His arm was gone. There was nothing there but a fetid, uneven, and bloody stump. His whole right side, in fact, was covered in dry blood. _ His _blood.

_ What-!? _

He began to breathe quickly as he tried to lift the phantom limb up. Nothing happened. Of course nothing happened when he did that. There was nothing there anymore, not after what he did. He turned to his left, and there, nearby, there was a bloodied shiv made of something that could have been plastic, but could have been metal as well. And next to that, sitting cold, immobile, and partly rotted, was–

_ Wait a minute. _

Keith realized it the moment he looked at the deteriorating arm. That _wasn’t his. Not anymore. _

_ “What the-” _

_ The shadows of two large Galra soldiers loomed in the doorway, letting out shouts. _

_ “How did Champion smuggle a _ weapon _ into his cell!? Get him out!” _

_ “Brigok is going to regret getting lax with watching Champion!” _

_ “Forget him, the witch will have _all _our carcasses hanging from her chambers if he dies…” _

_ The figures began to drag him-but also _ not him_-out of the cell, and though the pain wasn’t truly his, though the pain was a memory of a memory, Keith couldn’t stop the silent scream that came from his mouth. Even as the one who truly went through the horror let out a gurgling cry from the rough hands touching the open wound. _

_ “I can’t believe he cut his own arm off…get a doctor here now!” _

_ Then-much to Keith’s shock-the frothy whimper became more of a laugh as he was dragged off on a gurney. Soon enough, glowing eyes began to appear above his head, and he dipped into that beautiful void where the worst moments were discarded from his mind like tissue- _

** _Like I would ever let that witch do it._ ** _Shiro’s voice echoed through his ears. _ **_If I have to lose something of mine, I’d rather it be by my hand-_ **

“Shiro?!”

Had Shiro...cut his _own_ arm off? Hadn’t he told them all the Galra had done it, when he first came back? Why would he do that? Why would he lie, unless-

Keith wouldn’t be able to get an answer. Without warning, he was falling again, and then-

“SHIRO!!” He shouted into the void as jelly began to pour into his orifices again. “What is going on!? Where are you!? _SHIRO!! _”

“Hm? What is it?”

“I need to talk with you, Takashi.”

Quickly, he-no, Shiro-turned his he_ad. He was in a Garrison apartment, and across the table was a darker-skinned man, eyes glowering beneath glasses. Keith-Shiro-stared; he knew that look. It was disapproval. Seeing the other man, meanwhile, threw Keith for a loop, along with everything else in the room. This wasn’t just any apartment-it was Shiro’s. It was a place that no longer existed. _

_ “Heard you were in the simulator this morning.” _ Adam? What-but this was before-_ “Also heard you were holding your right arm the whole time, driving one-handed.” _

_ “…And?” He looked down and picked up his coffee, steam tickling his nostrils. “You’re reading into things too deeply, Adam. I was just goofing off a bit for the cadets.” _

_ “Oh, really? Then in that case, you wouldn’t mind going to the gym with me.” The way the words were spat out by Adam, it was much less an invitation than a challenge. “I still need to go today. I’ll do pull-ups if you do them.” _

_ Keith could feel Shiro bristle. _

_ “Adam.” His voice was low and dangerous. “What, exactly, would you be proving to me with this?” _

_ “I don’t know.” Adam grabbed his bag at this, throwing it on his shoulder. “What exactly are you trying to prove to me by lying?” _

_ Without another word, the other left Shiro alone, slamming the door as he left. Keith could feel the shaking in his right arm, before, finally, he brought a fist up and slammed it down angrily on the table. The arm didn’t stop shaking after he stood up, or as he got to their bedroom, and began to undress- _

** _It’s only a matter of time. Everyone will know. And then, I’ll never go back to space…_ **

He had known about his arm the entire time. Of course. Shiro would have been the first to realize his arm was starting to give out.

** _…I’ll never return home._ **

Keith didn’t even have the chance to respond, before he was falling again into the _ screams and shouts and roars of the crowd around him. Lights began to blind his eyes as he dragged his right arm up to his chest with a great deal more effort. A large modified bandage was wrapped around his hand, made from his bloodied clothing. _

_ In front of him, a giant three-headed monster stared down at him and snarled. _

_ “I’m sorry.” _

_ The words were almost murmured under his breath as he stared at the other. Everyone thought that Shiro’s opponent was a wild beast, something bloodthirsty and heartless. Shiro, however, knew better. It was little more than a baby, and it was frightened. It didn’t want to hurt him, just as he didn’t want to hurt it. However, the shock collars around its necks shot electricity down through its spine if the creature didn’t fight as its sponsor wanted it to. _

_ If it won, who knew what indignities it would have to suffer as the new Champion. Shiro shut his eyes and began to charge. He felt himself blank out like a light as the impact of his hit to the baby’s head rattled through him. He felt nothing in his arm, even as he used all of his strength and power to thrust, but that was normal. Now, in that moment, he felt nothing, period. No fear. No pain. No sympathy. _

_ He could feel the warmth of the viscera shower over him, for what felt like an eternity, amidst the bloodthirsty screams of the crowd. When he pulled it out of the child’s corpse, it was still shaking, spasming- _

** _How did I live, while so many who were better than me died…?_ **

“What are you trying to tell me!?” Keith shouted as he began to fall again. “Is that why you’re upset?! You cut your own arm off to survive?! You killed kids because they made you?! I don’t _care _about that! None of us do! You should _never _ feel guilty about the things the Galra forced you to do-!”

“Would you please go outside, dear?” A gentle female voice whispered into his ear. “I would like to talk to the doctor alone for a few moments.”

Suddenly, Keith was looking up at a kind face as th_e elderly woman smiled back down at him. A much shorter him-his chin was at her elbows. With a shaky huff, he obeyed, quietly walking out into the hallway of the hospital, feeling the water well in his eyes. _

_ Then, without warning, he bolted. _

_ “Hey! Watch where you’re going, kid!” _

_ “Rude!” _

_ “What’s wrong with him?” _

_ He instantly turned a corner, jumped into the men’s room, ran into the first open stall, and slammed the door behind him before he gave into his tears that he’d managed to hold back while he was in the doctor’s office. He began to sob in earnest, feeling all his hopes and dreams-his life-slip away from him like sand. _

_ He wasn’t going to space. He wasn’t going anywhere. He was going to die before he was 30. And he _did-

“_STOP _! SHIRO-”

Keith’s scream echoed through the void as he fell again. The child’s cries turned into a howl of rage and sorrow; all around him, he could feel himself begin to _rip apart as light begins to suddenly push forth and swallow him. _

** _I died…I died…_ **

_ It hurt. It hurt more than any of the pain he’d felt with his illness. More than any of the torture he could remember from his time in the Arena, as an experiment, as little more than a puppet of an empire that spanned the stars he’d always wanted to traverse. More than any pain that his arm had given him. It was his inevitable decline, sped up until he was nothing more than ash. _

_ But it wasn’t the void of nothingness that met him as he fell. Instead, he heard the roar of the Black Lion, and then, he was in a field of stars that stretched to infinity. He knew where he was. He’d been here before, when he fought Zarkon. Only this time, he was utterly alone. _

_ This was it. No matter what happened, eventually, he would burn away. He would become little more than quintessence to feed the Black Lion. His friends might never find him. He would never see Earth again. He was selfish, so selfish. _

_ It was a horribly ironic death-instead of something slow, it was too quick for anyone to even realize what had happened. Shiro would have laughed, if tears weren’t spilling from his eyes as he fell to his knees. _

_ Even with the other paladins, Keith was going to be alone again, and it was his fault. _

_ All his fault- _

“**_Shiro_**!!”

Keith cut through the agony with an angry cough. The turmoil melted around him like rain. He could feel it fall down his face, and through his hair, as he sto_od on the beach, staring at the water as it lapped against his feet. He’d only just landed here a few days ago, but he’d felt more at ease here than he had in years. _

_ He closed his eyes, bringing his knees to his chest. It was beautiful here. Quiet, and secluded, despite the nearby farm. But no one came here, and indeed, no one was here so he was alone. He wondered if Keith would like it here. He had the feeling Kosmo might enjoy it here, at least. It seemed like a good place to give the wolf exercise. _

_ But even without Kosmo or Keith around, he was glad to have gotten the vacation time. Between the paladins still being hospitalized, the rebuilding of Earth after the defeat of the Fire of Purification, his getting used to Altas, and Haggar out somewhere plotting who knew what, it was good to have some silence. Some peace. Some time to think ahead for the future and get his priorities in order. _

_ He was taking a deep breath when it hit him like a ton of bricks. The future. Time. He had both things in front of him, as if they had always just been there, waiting to be taken for granted. All of a sudden and just like that. _

** _I’m…alive._ **

_ His breath choked in his throat. He felt tears suddenly fill his eyes. Before, he’d had no time. Now, suddenly, he had more than enough. Too much. His eyes widened as he began to hyperventilate. _

** _Oh god, I’m alive…!_ **

_ Dark and terrible thoughts suddenly flooded his mind as his hand went up to grab his hair. He was alive. So many had died, either by his hand or by others. Trillions upon trillions who deserved to live far more than he did, and they were all dead. Gone. Destroyed. Never coming back. _

_ He was supposed to have died that day, inside the Black Lion. _

_ But in the end, he didn’t. They brought him back. _

** _I’M ALIVE!!_ **

“Wait-”

_ Pain began to wrack Shiro’s chest at the realization. He began to cough. Then, he couldn’t breathe. _

“A farm-”

** _WHAT HAVE I DONE!? WH-_ **

_ He began to retch violently, before, finally, he coughed up white. Thick white petals, and light green stems with dark brown centers, followed by dripping blood down his chin. Then he kept coughing. He couldn’t stop coughing, and the pain refused to subside in his chest. Instead, it spread as he staggered to his feet, trying to stand up straight to catch his breath. Surely, he wasn’t really coughing up flowers. Surely, that was not his blood starting to litter the perfect sand with dark red. _

_ But if it was. Perhaps he deserved- _

“No! You d-”

Keith gasped as he fe_lt the pain start to ripple in Shiro’s spine. He could feel one of the discs rupture, then grow then harden, but that made no sense. Shiro stumbled, the blood and flowers increasingly cascading from his mouth until each breath shot petals and blood out like rapid projectiles. He was covered in blood, and stuck with petals, on his clothing. _

_ Clothing that began to tighten around Shiro’s chest, before ripping to the rapidly growing torso, the skin, too, looking too tight. _

** _What is…hAPenNing…_ **

_ The skin began to tear in slits, revealing the smooth bark beneath. Shiro’s steps slowed as his feet shred themselves, roots snaking out of toes. They embedded into the sand, curling deeper into the depths of the earth until they met with the rocks of the cliff. _

_ “KeItH…” _

_ It was the last thing Shiro said as branches came out of his mouth, splitting his face in half like paper. It was both grotesque and frightening to watch, seeing Shiro transform in writhing agony, and being unable to do anything about it. Being unwitting and ignorant about his fate, and about how he’d been in this spot this entire time. And indeed, a Shiro-sized tree stood, now, surrounded by flower petals and blood and ripped clothing. Even now Shiro tried to scream. _

“Shiro…!”

_ The growth of the tree didn’t stop, even after the transformation was complete. Indeed, just as Coran had said, the tree grew strong and sturdy, and continued to get larger. The flowers bloomed, bright and white, and animals began to live on the branches and in the bark. Most of all, Keith could feel the roots born of Shiro’s emotional turmoil start to spread beneath the ground. Self-loathing strong enough to hew through rock, and guilt tempered as sharp as a knife. _

_ It was no time at all before they tangled into the roots of another tree. Then another. And then another. Soon, the whole grove was in his grip, and all of them, too, began to bloom a bright orange fruit. _

_ Oranges. More juicy and delicious than any that had grown there before. _

An orange farm.

The nearby farm Shiro’s memory had mentioned.

Keith’s heart plunged along with the rest of his body, back into the void of Shiro’s darkness. Of his emotions, of his anger at himself for all of his crimes, real or perceived. But the oranges. The fruit. He didn’t know how, but it was possible, wasn’t it? In fact, it was more than likely.

The oranges had been the vector for the hanahaki to burgeon.

** _Oranges? Vector? Hanahaki?_ **

Keith gasped. He hadn’t said anything out loud. But—no. It made sense. He was in Shiro’s mind, and he could see his memories. It only made sense that Shiro could see his memories as well.

** _Keith?_ **

He opened his mouth to speak, only to find himself frozen as branches suddenly slammed right down his throat. Everything was blocked as he was plunged into memories once more.

This time, however, they were his own.

_ “This is a disease of our species, our planet-Apenach’s Peril.”_

_"It has now been dubbed severe pulmonary particulate rhinovirus, or SEPPR..."_

_ “Seriously, what is this surgery you guys are talking about?...” _

Keith grabbed his head, his nostrils flaring in panic as he tried to breathe. There was no resisting the mind meld. It was a two-way street, it always had been.

_ “…what’s killing our remaining population…” _

_ “Viruses can resist death?” _

_ “So, we keep on butchering the patients? That is completely nonsensical.” _

Just as Keith saw the memories that led to his illness, Shiro could see the results of it. The epidemic. The blood, the flowers, the fear, the panic. The surgery. The deaths.

** _Oh mY goD._ **

Regret, horror, and sadness began to roil through the branches that dug into Keith’s insides, and he could feel the emotions within Shiro strengthen. The epidemic was threatening Earth. Humanity was in danger of dying. People were losing their emotions, if not their lives, in the hundreds and thousands, while coughing out the end of their existence in violent, regretful agony.

This w_as his fault. His fault. HiS fAuLt. h_**_IS FaUlT._ **

** _PerhAPs hE dEsERvEd EveRyThiNg kEitH cAn dO To hIm_ ** _ \- _

“**NNNNNNGH!!**”

The branches probing Keith were strong, powerful. So was Keith. His hope his apology could be felt by Shiro as he pressed his teeth together to bite into the wood as hard as he could. Something like a scream of hurt and pain, like Shiro’s but not at the same time, echoed through the void, threatening to burst Keith’s eardrums.

Still, Keith’s actions had their effect, and the branches retreated away, slithering back into the blackness as Keith coughed out some leaves. As he panted, he looked around, a strange wind whipping his hair every several ticks, like breath on his wet brow.

“Shiro,” he finally managed. “Please. You…you don’t dese-!”

** _Keith._ **

And that was when Keith landed flat on his face on the bottom of what he could only describe as literal nothing. Keith let out a shout, then a groan, as the impact of the hit rankled his ribs and jaw. The ground he landed on was black, and everything around him was still the same void that he’d fallen through for what felt like an eternity. Nothing had truly changed within Shiro, while Keith had been in this place of pure self-hatred.

Nothing, except for the rotted black heart that suddenly appeared in front Keith. Thorny branches, vines and roots surrounded it, and as Keith slowly rolled onto his back, it twitched and throbbed.

“…Shiro.” Keith kept coughing as he slowly, painfully, managed to stagger to his feet. “Ugh…please. _Please _listen to me.”

He didn’t run to the heart. He knew better than to startle Shiro like that in a normal situation, and this was anything but normal. Instead, he brought a hand up and towards the heart, his pace slow and steady. Surely Shiro knew he would never hurt him. Not like this, not so close to the core of his very being.

A core that, Keith realized as he got closer, wasn’t a heart at all, but rather a seed. A Joshua tree seed, perhaps. It made sense-the Peril had taken over everything of Shiro, turning him into little more than a tree-like husk of his original self.

“This…” Keith closed his eyes as he kept treading closer. “This isn’t you, Shiro.”

** _iT Is. I aM a mOnsTeR. A fOol._ **

“_No _! It’s-it’s what this stupid disease is making you think!” Keith shook his head as he coughed some more. He wasn’t bringing up flowers, but maybe he was infected, after all. It didn’t matter. “This…what’s been happening isn’t your fault!”

** _WhY aM I aLiVe wHeN sO mAnY otHeRs…_ **

“You…you can’t control death. No one can.” Keith grit his teeth as he got ever closer to the seed. “You couldn’t have known your body had that illness, and…and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to survive! They forced you, in the arena-”

** _I sHouLd bE dEaD deAd DeaD-_ **

The seed writhed as the thorns dug in deeper.

“_Stop it! _ ” Finally, Keith was within reach of the seed. “It doesn’t matter! None of it _matters_! We’re just happy you’re alive! _I’m _-”

He began to choke as he fell to his knees, his fingers descending onto the surface of the seed.

“I can’t lose you again. Not like this.”

It was smooth and hard like obsidian under his hands, and for a moment, the seed seemed to stop its struggle. It almost seemed to lean towards Keith, and the ghost of a smile began to form on his face at the sight.

** _keItH...?_ **

The moment passed all too quickly. Just as he began to think he might have gotten Shiro’s attention, the thorns suddenly stabbed further into the core. It was like watching a fly struggle against the stick of a spiderweb. A scream started to emanate through the air again as Keith was forced to pull his hand back, while another vine of thorns popped out from the void and began to curl around the seed and close in towards his fingers.

** _KeEeIiiIttThH-! _ **

Slowly, Keith’s hand began to curl into a fist as he watched the further stifling of Shiro’s very spirit. He began to grit his teeth, his eyes no doubt flashing yellow. The vines and thorns wanted to play rough? He could play rough. His other hand went to unsheathe his blade.

“Let him go,” he seethed as he stared down the thorns, the vines, the roots that refused, and instead tightened around the seed. “Or I’ll_ make _you let him go!”

The vines merely tightened further at Keith’s words, the thorns jutting out higher and sharper, as if daring him to try. Shiro’s scream echoed louder as the piercing deepened. It was an agonized, tortured, gurgling screech, one that was close to breaking entirely.

That settled it. Keith lunged with an angry roar of his own, slashing at the nearest vine. Against his Marmoran blade, there was no contest.

“LEAVE SHIRO ALONE!” 

More vines began to grow from the ground, trying to wrap around the seed even further. Keith would have none of it, and ripped one right out of the root, even as thorns sliced through his arm. It wriggled furiously, before it went limp and shriveled.

“THIS ISN’T YOU!” He slashed another vine, which shook violently from the attack, before biting at another that tried to fend him away. “YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THIS, SHIRO!”

** _My fAuLt..._ **

“THIS ISN’T YOUR FAULT! YOU COULDN’T HAVE KNOWN!” A thorn sliced his cheek; a vine grabbed his wrist. Keith kept slashing, ignoring the pain and the stinging. “You can’t let this take you down! Not after all you went through to get here!”

** _sO maNy diEd wHiLe I…_ **

“**STOP BLAMING YOURSELF!!**” The vines were fast, always growing, always attacking. Keith was faster. Still, he prayed he could keep his speed up. “You...you can’t keep going like this! You can’t _ live _like this!!”

** _oH gOd, i Am aLivE..._ **

“That’s right! You lived! _You’re alive_! And what you choose do with your life now is what’s important, not what you did then when you didn't have a choice!” A thorn jabbed into Keith’s midsection. “Your life is still worth something! You realizing you have your life ahead of you…”

A vine began to wrap around Keith’s wrist, and after parrying a thorn, he began to pull at the vine, hard.

“Does that frighten you?!”

** _A fOoL-_ **

“_FIGHT IT, SHIRO!!_”

The root that the vine was yanked from began to bleed a white-like pus. At the same time, much to Keith’s horror, the seed, too, began to bleed white.

_ What-!? _

Already, another vine began to struggle to pop out of the hole that had been left. More vines began to pop up without warning, from above, from the side, from behind. They all began to close in, thorns sliding out like swords from their leafy scabbard. Now, where before there were only a few vines, there were dozens upon dozens descending on him and the seed.

“Shiro, _no_...!” This was his worst fear realized. “What did I just…!?”

His actions weren’t doing anything. The Peril was practically taunting him. For a tick, Keith felt his breath faltered, as did his resolve. At this rate, he knew, he could fight this monster for a year and a day. He could bring his bayard, his Lion, the Atlas and the whole Garrison’s arsenal with him into this place. But machines run out of ammunition. Keith would run out of energy.

At this rate, he would never save Shiro. 

He nearly dropped his blade-no, nearly threw it-when he suddenly remembered.

** _“Back on Altea, the effects of Apenach’s Peril were triggered by someone experiencing extreme emotional turmoil.” _ **

_ ...Ah. _

Keith’s nostrils blew out air. Of _course_. The stupid tree disease wasn’t going to just give Shiro up like that if he simply tried to tear it apart. Not when Shiro was so deep in its clutches. Even Keith’s determination and speed was more than matched by the pestilence. This _was _Shiro’s psyche, after all. At least, Keith was pretty sure it was Shiro’s psyche, or some kind of reasonable stand-in for it. Why else would Keith’s actions against the father (mother?...parent? Parent) of hanahaki hurt Shiro as well?

Whatever it was, the Peril was a dangerous adversary. No wonder Coran and Allura spoke so fearfully of it. To think that such a simple organism, with a simple sentient purpose coded into its being, could cause such destruction despite the intelligence of its victims-that was what a disease was, in the end.

But unlike so many diseases, including its mutated progeny, this was one disease that had a possible cure-and there, Keith had an idea. It was a ridiculous idea, but it was still an idea that was better than ‘keep stabbing until he collapsed from exhaustion’. It was worth a shot.

** _“Wouldn’t it make sense, then, that you could reverse it by satisfying the cause of the emotion?”_ **

“...Shiro.” His shouting had become a soft whisper, the flames turned down to a dim ember. “I still need to know, so I’ll ask again. Does the future frighten you?”

He just hoped that the Peril wasn’t still reading his mind as he slowly sheathed his blade.

“...I’m frightened too.” Apenach’s Peril didn’t hesitate to take advantage of his seeming surrender. Tendrils of green began to curl around his legs. The thorns on them began to grow and sharpen, cutting through into his skin. Blood began to trickle down into nothing as the Peril slithered up his thighs. “I didn’t...I never expected to have something to live for in the future for a long, long time.”

Vines grabbed his arms, tightening until his heartbeat began to throb throughout his limbs. He grit his teeth, his gut screaming that he should fight and tear this thing apart to get to Shiro. He knew he couldn’t. That wasn’t what this called for, even as his whole body began to sting from the wounds being given to him. He took a deep breath.

“But then I met you.” 

The vines began to drag him, leaving thin lines of red in its wake as he was brought closer and closer to the seed. He wasn’t sure what the plants intended to do. Subsume him? Eject him? Kill him? He wasn’t sure. But he knew this was what he had to do.

“You gave me something to live for. You gave me hope.” The vines began to wrap around his neck. “I’d never had that before, and...no one can take that away from me, now. Not even you. Not even this.”

He was almost to the seed, now. He could see the cracks in its surface, and the white liquid leaking from it. Keith knew he was taking a chance, and that he might fail. But he also knew that if he didn’t do this, he would have no other recourse to save Shiro. And that was one thing he wouldn’t let stand.

“As many times as it takes,” he murmured, even as he thought it. “This is no different. Even though this has made you think you should give up on yourself...made you think it’s the only option.”

Finally, he was close enough to reach out and touch the seed. Was it his hand that was shaking? Or was the seed trembling beneath his touch? It didn’t matter. When did it ever matter? He had seen Shiro at his worst. Seeing Shiro as a metaphorical if not literal seed was hardly anything terrible in comparison.

“...Like you told me all those years ago. I’m not giving up on you.”

It was then that he could feel the vines begin to pull him down, and away from it. His fingernails began to grip onto the seed, digging into the skin.

“You are the most important person in my life, no matter what. Come back to me...I believe in your future...and I believe in you...and yes...”

He managed to press his head against the side of the seed. The bed of his nails were starting to fill with black, and the thorns of the vines were digging in deeper. The vines were going to pull him away from the seed any second; it was now or never.

“...I love you.”

The kiss he planted was gentle and soft, just as he was yanked away from the seed. Suddenly, the seed was a dozen feet above him, and he was falling again; this time, he had no illusions that he’d ever hit a bottom again. The thorns were starting to dig into his neck, and he let out a gasp as he felt them begin to jab his cheeks, his mouth, his head.

Fear began to creep into his mind. Maybe he’d misjudged what to do. Maybe he hadn’t said enough. Maybe he’d said too much. Maybe touching the seed, and getting the crud under his nails, had been unacceptable. It was all too possible he had lost his chance to save Shiro, and that he had failed. If he failed, the plant would only have to grow until its thorns pierced his jugular. Once that happened, it was only a matter of time-

** _nO._ **

A faint whisper echoed through Keith’s ear like a gentle wind.

** _NO!!_ **

The scream nearly burst Keith’s eardrums with its volume and fury, before he found himself falling again into nothingness, the plant abruptly letting him go. The seed disappeared from above, only to be next to him when Keith landed hard on the void nothing again, the seed violently thrashing. All around him, the vines began to tremble and as small capillary-like cracks began to form over the seed.

** _KEITH! NOT YOU TOO!!_ **

Keith groaned as he rolled over, his body chastising him for the injuries he had incurred during the ordeal. Slowly, with a grit of his teeth, he tried to crawl towards the seed, feeling the vines closing in him once more. He knew they were going to try and kill him this time. He could see thorns as long as Zweihänders drawing themselves out of the creepers that were now everywhere.

_ Fight, Shiro. _

The thorns stopped when a loud and mighty _ bang _ came from the seed. A massive fissure snapped open near the middle, a massive white glow coming from within. He couldn’t see what, if anything, was inside the seed. 

** _LEAVE HIM ALONE!!_ **

But he could tell it was working. Shiro had finally heard him. Had felt his presence. Knew his love once more.

_ Huh _ . Keith blinked for a tick as a thought occurred to him. The kiss really _ did _work, somehow. Coran hadn’t been making that part up, had he?

Another loud fracture brought Keith back to his senses. The vines seemed to want to take Keith, but immediately after, their efforts started going back towards the rupturing seed. Of course, they can’t have Keith, so they had to try and take advantage of Shiro again, like any opportunistic parasite.

The key word was try, because Keith wasn’t going to let that happen again. He unsheathed his knife as he staggered back onto his feet, allowing it to grow to its full size. Shiro was fighting back now, and once more so would he. The vines were swatted away like flies and easily dodged, even as they tried to grab a hold of him again.

“_SHIRO _ !” The vines began to wrap once more around the seed, trying to close it back together, trying to gain full control once more. Keith raised his blade. “I’M HERE! _ GGGGH _!!”

The vines turned, and tried to wrap around his legs. His arms. His mouth. A mistake. With what force he could muster, Keith clenched the hilt with both hands, and slammed the tip of the blade down onto the seed.

“**_GRAAAAAAAUGH!!_ **”

A massive splash of white liquid exploded out of the seed, landing on Keith’s wrist. It warped and solidified into a multi-colored hand, attached to a muscular rainbow arm, that tightly grabbed Keith and didn’t let go. The arm went into what looked like a bright, glowing pool of white within the core of the seed. The vines tried to lunge in and touch the white goo, only to start burning on the spot when they touched.

** _Keith…_ **The hand holding onto Keith was shaking. **_Keith…!_ **

“You have this, Shiro. You got this.” Keith released his hands from the blade, letting one of them gently clasp onto the pearlescent fingers. Please.”

The vines began to curl into themselves as flames began to consume them.

“Come back to me-!”

** _KE_ ** “**_I_**_T _H-”

What happened next took only seconds. There was a scream, then the smell of burning foliage. Something like flesh touching his cheek. His blade popping out of the crumbling seed skin like a cork from a bottle of wine and into the void. Then, suddenly, the void became bright and white, searing Keith’s eyes, with that scream that was and wasn’t Shiro’s echoing through the air causing his ears to violently ring. All of them threatened to overwhelm Keith’s senses as he felt himself fall backwards from a mass suddenly hitting him fully from the front. 

Something heavy, and warm, and vaguely human-shaped. Something that felt like Shiro falling onto him, his head lolling on his shoulder, his breath on his back, something wet landing near his neck. Keith’s arms rapidly found themselves wrapping around the figure’s back as the burning light began to overcome them both.

Then, there was a mighty _CRACK _ in the air, and the white light turned orange and yellow and purple. 

“KEITH!”

There were hands on his back, multiple pairs. They were pulling him. Voices began to surround him.

“I’ve got him!” Keith winced at the light, even though it wasn’t as harsh as before, as a familiar voice started speaking. “Oh my god, the tree...he’s got Shiro!”

“Pidge…?”

“Easy there, Number Four, don’t worry! We’ve got you, there you go!” 

Coran. Keith let out a grunt as he felt his feet hit the sand, his legs wobbling unsteadily from the balancing act he was doing with the body. Luckily, a pair of beefier hands-Hunk’s- was pushing him forward, allowing him to regain his balance even as he tried to adjust the weight of Shiro in his arms. 

An unconscious and very naked Shiro, covered in a reddish sap speckled with white, no less, Keith realized as his vision came back into focus. He couldn’t stop his cheeks from heating up at the sight.

“You saved Shiro.” To his right, Allura’s voice was speaking. “Thank goodness...”

“Woah.” Now it was Hunk speaking. “What’s happening to the tree?!”

Blearily, Keth’s eyes looked upwards to see the tree’s blossoms falling one by one. Each petal turned from off-white to grey, then grey to black as they disintegrated before hitting the sand. Then, the tree trunk itself-complete with the massive hole leaking red ooze onto the ground-began to gently fold into itself, like a flower in reverse, before also turning black and disintegrating into ash floating gently upwards into the wind and over the sea. All that was left was a large puddle of the sludge-like sap, and a very confused family of raccoons failing frantically in the goo.

So, it was over, at least. He’d saved Shiro once more. Keith closed his eyes, letting himself collapse into Hunk’s arms as he took a deep breath-then let out a harsh cough. Bits of black and grey leaves began ashing onto his chest plate.

“Keith!”

“‘M ok.” He suddenly felt exhausted, sagging down. He really wanted to sleep for a week and not wake up. He knew also that wasn’t going to be an option. “We...the farm?”

“Keith?! What…!?” Pidge sounded panicked. “Are those _petals _you’re coughing up?!”

“No...there’s a…not mine...” His eyes felt inordinately heavy as he murmured. “An orange...farm. Vectors…”

“No, not you too-don’t you _dare_-!”

Someone slapped him. It felt like Allura. Maybe it was Pidge. He wasn’t sure. His eyes fought to open in full, to try and show that he was ok, just strangely tired, but it was like trying to force a three-ton slab with a toothpick.

“No no, none of that!” Coran’s voice was distant. “Don’t panic, this is normal! He just saved someone from the Peril...needs rest...clothes...Number…”

Keith didn’t hear much more after that as he slipped into sleep. Apologies and explanations could come later.


	3. Chapter 3

“He’s ok.”

“Ok?”

“Yes.”

“...Are you _sure_?” Shiro’s voice was still a bit hoarse from misuse as he stared at Keith, whose snoring caused the soundproof glass of the cryo-pod to rattle, despite him being unable to actually hear it. “They...said he was coughing up petals, and that he was coughing even before then.”

“Those petals seem to be leftovers from you. Otherwise, it’s bronchitis brought on by stress and overwork. He’s not been resting like he should with everything that’s been happening.” Colleen sighed as she popped a tourniquet on his flesh arm. “You are teaching that boy some bad habits, Shiro.”

“...I guess so.”

Shiro closed his eyes at this, faint memories of darkness and hurt and ennui swirling in his mind. He’d only woken up, and as everything from what had happened to him came back to him, he could feel the guilt clawing at him once more. Once more, he’d put Keith in a situation that could have injured-or worse, killed him-and it was, again, because of something that the witch had done to him during his lost year.

Now, though, it hadn’t just been Keith or Voltron he’d put in danger. The entire world had been at the mercy of whatever had been put inside of him, and this time, he didn’t have the clone being mind-controlled to fall back on as any kind of excuse. He wasn’t quite sure how he was going to live with himself, not this time.

“Hey.” There was a flick on his neck. Shiro’s head turned to see Colleen with a syringe and an alcohol pad. “Mind if I take some blood from you? I’d like to compare it to the other samples we have.”

“...Right.” Shiro dazedly nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Ok. Swabbing you down, and needle coming in 3, 2, 1…” Shiro hissed as his inner arm stung. “All right. You’re doing good, Shiro.”

“So…” Deep breath. “You really think you can cure the hanahaki?”

“SEPPR. We’ve already seen promising results from what we’ve gotten from those raccoons that were living in the tree, along with the sap emission left over. They seem to have been attracted to its fruits and were exposed to the SEPPR, but it didn’t fully take. So, they’ve developed antibodies as a result, instead of getting sick like us.” Soon enough, the sting subsided and Colleen was snapping the tourniquet off of Shiro’s arm. “And considering you’re not coughing up gobs of petals on me, I have an inkling you might have developed immunity as well, for both SEPPR and the Peril.”

“By that tree, you know you mean me, right?”

“Yes, I _know_, I was told about it and I saw the pictures.” Colleen pinched the bridge of her nose. “But, even knowing it’s the truth, I’m not putting that you were a _tree _in my epidemiological report to the powers that be.”

“Too ridiculous to believe?” Shiro sighed. “I wouldn’t have fully believed it myself if I’d...not been through it.”

“More that I’d rather you not have to go through more than you need to be.” Holding the vials of blood in her hands, Colleen turned to place them inside a sealed box. “Turns out some journalist managed to learn that the original patient zero from Santiago had a connection to a farm in northern California. Specifically ordered from it all the time, and it turned out that fruit was contaminated with the earliest-dated samples of SEPPR widely known to exist.”

The orange farm. His tendrils had put that entire orchard into a death grip. Shiro’s eyes furrowed as he remembered how he had so cruelly taken that information from Keith while in the throes of the Peril. The farm was probably being razed to the ground even as they spoke. That poor family. They were good people, and had been kind to him when he’d visited.

“...So the Garrison is going to just make something up to conceal what happened. Again.”

“It wasn’t the Garrison’s doing, this time. Completely independent of us, actually. A relative of the man we all thought was the first case.” Colleen’s voice softened. “So as far as the public’s concerned, that orange farm inadvertently started the SEPPR epidemic, and I doubt the Garrison would be able to convince them otherwise at this point. Too ridiculous to believe.”

Shiro looked up at his words being parroted back to him; meanwhile, Colleen was gently smiling at him.

“...And the farm?”

“Well, they’ll have to uproot the trees. It’ll be some years before the ground can be considered safe to plant anything.” She gently pat him on the back. “We’re going to make sure that family doesn’t suffer. They will get compensated for their lost crops until they can plant again. They’ll bounce back.”

“I’d rather nothing happened to them at all.”

“Shiro. This is _not _your fault.” Colleen’s hand migrated up to Shiro’s shoulder and squeezed. “I know you’re not going to believe me or anyone else, especially not right now. But we are going to keep saying it until you figure it out for yourself in that thick skull of yours. Besides...you have the cure in your blood. I’m sure of it. You’re going to save a lot of people, now and in the future.”

Shiro didn’t respond. Instead, his eyes drifted towards Keith’s prone body.

“It wasn’t me.” Maybe it was the remnants of the Peril’s hold on him that was making him efface himself so. _Maybe_. Still, Shiro shook his head. “If Keith hadn’t done what he did, nothing would have changed. He should get the credit for this. Not me.”

“We’ll see what he says.” Colleen nodded towards Keith. “But know that we don’t blame you. What you went through...you had no control over it. That’s the nature of disease. You don’t always get the choice to do something about it. But now, you have a choice, now that you’re free from the disease. So, what will you do?”

“Save who I can.” The answer comes almost immediately from his mouth. Of course. It was second nature for him to want to help, especially when it was his screw-up, intentional or inadvertent. “And...well, make sure Keith is all right.”

“_And _recovering fully,” Colleen shook a finger at him. “Remember, you’re not to go back to duty for the next week until we are certain you won’t relapse back into a tree.”

“Well, if I do,” the ghost of a smile came onto Shiro’s face. “I know Keith will kiss me better.”

At this, Colleen huffed and admitted that, while she could believe that Shiro turned into a tree, she couldn’t believe that kissing him was what saved Shiro. Apparently _that _ was too unbelievable, even for her. Or-Shiro suspected-Colleen didn’t want to admit that Coran was right about something that was borderline fairy tale for her more logical sensibilities.

* * *

Keith would hear about what happened while he was recovering several days later, while Pidge and Colleen were working on a prototype hanahaki-or SEPPR-serum. It was almost an offhand remark, which resulted in Keith learning about Shiro’s doubts. Without a second thought, Keith sought Shiro out. He was on the roof of the Garrison’s main building, looking out at the stars, his expression unreadable.

“Hey.” Keith poked him in his side. “I heard you think I will kiss you better if you turn into a tree again.”

“I-” Shiro flushed bright red at this. “Um. Hi to you too, Keith.”

Keith flopped down on the bench. Wordlessly he scooted next to Shiro, leaning himself against Shiro’s flesh shoulder and wrapping his arm around the other’s lower back.

“I meant everything I said, you know.” Slowly, Shiro’s head leaned into Keith’s. “I will never give up on you, or your future.”

“...because I’m alive,” Shiro murmured, closing his eyes. “And I’m going to live.”

“That’s right.” Keith’s hand slid up to the nape of his neck, fingers gently kneading through the short hair there. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, now. There’s nothing to be ashamed about in that, and I’ll be there to prove it to you.”

“As many times as it takes?”

“Always.” Keith closed his own eyes. “Always and forever.”

They passed the night up there with silence, doing nothing, saying almost nothing. Just leaning into one another and looking at the stars, as if they hadn’t travelled through them to get back to Earth and it was their first time seeing the clear dark sky. For a moment, all was peaceful once more. For a moment, it was as if they were the only two people in the universe, and nothing of the past several years had happened. As if the SEPPR, the hanahaki, had never happened. As if they were not about to save the world once more through their blood-through Shiro’s blood, and sap.

Then Shiro spoke as the sun began to rise.

“You know...I was thinking. What would Kosmo say to having some brothers and sisters?”

“...You want to adopt the raccoons that were living in you.”

“I might have thought about it, they are pretty cute and they’re vaccinated now. I bet they’ll be ok.” 

“Why?”

“_Keith_. Why _not_?”

“...Are you sure you don’t just want them so you can sic raccoons on people who annoy you like you could as a tree?”

“...Well…”

“...We can discuss it later, Shiro.”

Later, because this time, they had all the time in the world now.

* * *

_ The SEPPR pandemic was one of the most devastating medical events in modern history, lasting four months during the fall of 21XX. _

_ Caused by severe pulmonary particulate rhinovirus, or SEPPR (colloquially nicknamed “hanahaki”), a mutated rhinovirus strain of the Altean disease known as Apenach’s Peril, which was a meristem-inducing virus, the disease affected the limbic and respiratory systems of humans who caught it. The result was the rapid growth of flowers inside the lungs of the affected, contingent upon the carrier’s emotional state at the time. _

_ Prognosis for those with SEPPR was generally poor on the outset, and the mortality rate was estimated to be upwards of 90% within the first week of showing symptoms unless some form of medical treatment was sought. Antihistamines were initially used as a treatment to inhibit floral growth, and was considered reasonably effective with those in the earlier stages of SEPPR. Those in later stages were generally limited to a surgical option that involved the extraction of affected parts of the hippocampus and amygdala; the result was life-saving, though patients that underwent this treatment exhibited severe emotional and neurological damage after the fact. _

_ The SEPPR outbreak was ultimately halted through the intervention of the paladins of Voltron, who, alongside the Galaxy Garrison, tracked down and isolated the blood of several asymptomatic individuals and animals, in order to locate antibodies necessary for synthesis of a cure. The xylem sap of an individual tree of unknown provenance was also utilized to create a preventative vaccine, which is currently given to all individuals over the age of three years old, as part of the normal vaccination schedule. _

_ As of this writing, SEPPR is considered eradicated from Earth, with the last known case occurring in the winter of 21XX. No further outbreaks have been reported since. _

**E N D**


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